Florida-based brokerage Atlantic Trust Mortgage has asked a Michigan federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) that alleges a violation of an amended agreement.
Atlantic Trust entered into a wholesale broker agreement with UWM in 2018. Following UWM’s 2021 announcement of an “All-In” initiative — which prohibits UWM broker partners from sending loans to direct competitors Rocket Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage — Atlantic Trust agreed to the “All-In” addendum, according to a complaint filed in January by UWM in a U.S. district court in Michigan.
The “All-In” addendum amended the 2018 broker agreement “by adding a warranty and representing that Atlantic Trust would not submit loans to select retail lenders (Rocket and Fairway), and if it did, such submissions would be a breach of the agreement,” UWM’s suit stated.
UWM claimed that Atlantic Trust submitted “at least 71 mortgage loans” to UWM’s direct competitors after the Florida-based brokerage agreed to the addendum.
In Atlantic Trust’s latest motion to dismiss UWM’s suit in March, the amendment to the 2018 wholesale broker agreement is “undisputedly not signed” by either party and UWM doesn’t allege that the amendment was ever signed.
“Plaintiff’s bald, conclusory allegation that the parties somehow ‘agreed’ to the 2022 unsigned amendment to the 2018 wholesale broker agreement as a complete and total replacement for the 2018 wholesale broker agreement in some unidentified manner is entirely implausible as a matter of law,” according to Atlantic Trust.
Attorneys for Atlantic Trust went on to state that “an amendment made without additional consideration is valid only where the amendment is memorialized in a signed writing,” citing Michigan state law.
UWM, Atlantic Trust and an attorney for Atlantic Trust didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Since announcing its controversial “All-In” initiative in March 2021, UWM has been in legal battles with its broker partner that send loans to Rocket and Fairway.
UWM sued Kevron Investments Inc., America’s MoneyLine (AML) and Mid Valley Funding in February 2022 for alleged breaches of contract by continuing to selling loans to Rocket and Fairway. UWM settled with Mid Valley Funding in June 2023.
More recently, a federal judge sided with UWM after Florida-based Okavage Group sued UWM for alleged violations of antitrust laws and monopolization of the wholesale mortgage market. The suit was dismissed by a U.S. district court in Florida, which cited inadequate evidence to prove accusations against UWM.
