Company: RWT-PA
Filing Date: 2025-03-03
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000930236-25-000007
Chunk: 242

Company: REDWOOD TRUST INC
Filing Date: 2025-03-03
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 242
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, financing transactions, venture capital investments, third parties we retain to provide us with goods and services, and our leased office space. We also regularly enter into confidentiality agreements with third parties under which we receive confidential information. If we breach any of these agreements, we could be subject to claims for damages and related litigation. For example, when we sell whole loans in the secondary market, we are required to make customary representations and warranties about such loans to the loan purchaser. Our mortgage loan sale agreements may require us to repurchase or substitute loans or indemnify investors in the event we breach a representation or warranty made to the loan purchaser. In addition, we may be required to repurchase loans as a result of borrower fraud or in the event of early payment default on a mortgage loan. The remedies available to a purchaser of mortgage loans may be broader than those available to us against the borrower or correspondent. Further, if a purchaser enforces its remedies against us, we may not be able to enforce the remedies we have against the borrower or correspondent seller. Financing for repurchased loans may be limited or unavailable, and may incur a steep discount to their repurchase price from financing counterparties. They are also typically sold at a significant discount to the loan's unpaid principal balance. Significant repurchase activity could harm our business, cash flow, results of operations and financial condition.

As a result of past or future actions of our residential investor loan platforms, we may be subject to lender liability claims, and if we are held liable under such claims, we could be subject to losses. A number of judicial decisions have upheld the right of borrowers to sue lending institutions on the basis of various evolving legal theories, collectively termed “lender liability.” Generally, lender liability is founded on the premise that a lender has either violated a duty, whether implied or contractual, of good faith and fair dealing owed to the borrower or has assumed a degree of control over the borrower resulting in the creation of a fiduciary duty owed to the borrower or its other creditors or stockholders. We could also be subject to litigation, including class action litigation, or regulatory enforcement action, including enforcement action initiated by the CFPB, relating to residential mortgage servicer performance failing to adhere to requirements governing forbearance and foreclosure as a result of the pandemic or other servicer misconduct. As further discussed within these Risk Factors, the Student Loan ABS Litigation may introduce additional theories of securitization entity liability resulting from third-party servicer misconduct. We cannot assure investors that such claims will not arise through litigation