Maddox dismisses Lakin class action

Madison County Circuit Judge Lola Maddox has thrown out a proposed class action suit of the Lakin Law Firm for a reason that a federal court had previously rejected.

Maddox wrote in a July 10 order that a U.S. District Court decision to remand a suit over a mortgage loan to Madison County would not control her decision.

"The law has become clearer and more explicit on the issue raised herein since the Federal Court's remand order," she wrote.

Maddox dismissed a suit the Lakin firm filed last year for Gary Treadway against Nationscredit Financial Services, as special representative of the estate of his mother, Juanita Treadway.

Treadway claimed his mother paid a discount fee in order to reduce the interest on a mortgage, and Nationscredit did not reduce the interest.

Nationscredit removed the suit to U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, arguing that a plaintiff must bring a claim based on the charging of interest in federal court under the National Banking Act.

The district court remanded the suit, finding that the National Banking Act did not apply.

Nationscredit attorney Joe Whyte of Edwardsville moved last October to dismiss.

Maddox heard arguments on the motion April 27. She took it under advisement and asked attorneys for more information.

In her order she wrote, "Plaintiff attempts to avoid application of the National Bank Act…by stating that they do not claim that the charge for loan discount fee or discount constitutes usury under Illinois state law."

"Their 'artful pleadings' are nonetheless unavailing," she wrote.

She also wrote that Treadway did not allege that Nationscredit made fraudulent representations to his mother.