‘Filed Rate Doctrine’ Does Not Bar RESPA Claims in Mortgage Reinsurance Action, Pa Federal Judge Says

PHILADELPHIA — The “filed rate doctrine” does not defeat claims accusing PNC Financial Services of violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act by engaging in a captive reinsurance scheme, a Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled.

In an Aug. 24 order, Judge Lawrence Stengel of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss PNC’s seventh affirmative defense, in which the bank argued that the plaintiffs’ RESPA claims are barred because they paid mortgage insurance rates filed with and/or approved by state regulators.

However, the judge allowed PNC to assert a defense in which …