A federal judge has asked a company being sued by United Wholesale Mortgage whether the Pontiac, Michigan-based mortgage lender should be held in contempt of court for not complying with an order to have CEO Mat Ishbia participate in a deposition.
Such a request by a judge is uncommon, according to lawyers familiar with the U.S. Eastern District Court of Detroit. Being held in contempt of court can result in fines and potentially other penalties. Terrence Berg, the judge in the case, criticized the mortgage giant for evasion of his Dec. 12 oral order.
“Its manufactured crisis begins to approach ‘a mockery … and an abuse'” of the judicial process, Berg wrote in his latest order filed late Thursday…