Rocket and DOJ may be poised to settle appraisal bias suit
Rocket Mortgage has signaled it may be prepared to settle an appraisal bias case brought by the Department of Justice in 2024 on behalf of a woman who claims her home was undervalued because of her race and color.
In a court filing last week, the parties said they “are in agreement that there is a reasonable prospect of settlement for all or part of this case,” and they believe a settlement conference with the presiding judge “would be productive in facilitating that potential resolution.”
The Biden-era lawsuit was initially filed in a Colorado-based U.S. district court by the DOJ in October 2024. Besides Rocket, the defendants in the case are Solidifi U.S. Inc., an appraisal management company contracted by Rocket; Maverick Appraisal Group Inc., the Denver-based appraisal company at the center of the dispute; and Maksym Mykhailyna, the owner and CEO of Maverick.
In 2025, Mykhailyna had his license revoked and was fined $97,500 by the Colorado Board of Real Estate Appraisers after an investigation found that his company “improperly retained the services of unlicensed individuals located outside of the United States to complete appraisal assignments and then affixed the signatures of credentialled appraisers to the reports, often without their knowledge.”
The DOJ suit from 2024 stems from a refinance application submitted to Rocket by Francesca Cheroutes, who is Black. The complaint states that Mykhailyna met with Cheroutes and appraised her property at $640,000, which was $220,000 lower than a previous appraisal she received less than a year earlier in connection with a mortgage through Rocket.
The complaint alleges that Mykhailyna and Maverick disregarded comparable homes in the predominantly white neighborhood where Cheroutes resided, instead relying on homes farther away in a predominantly Black neighborhood. That alleged activity is illegal under provisions of the Fair Housing Act.
Rocket Companies, the parent of the mortgage affiliate, called the complaint “baseless” in a press release from December 2024, saying it followed all applicable laws. It claimed the DOJ included Rocket as a defendant as a way to publicize the case.
“It is notable that, in a case about the alleged actions of an independent appraiser that was contracted through an unaffiliated third party, Rocket Mortgage is listed first in the DOJ’s filing and is the only company mentioned by name in the headline of the government’s press release announcing the DOJ’s lawsuit,” stated Bill Emerson, president of Rocket Companies at the time. Emerson retired at the end of 2025 but remains on the company’s board of directors.
Rocket Mortgage in turn sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) over its appraisal policies, arguing that by both holding mortgage companies responsible for the actions of independent appraisers and also requiring them to stay at arm’s length from appraisers’ judgment puts lenders “between the proverbial rock and a hard place.”
A federal judge dismissed the case against HUD in March 2026, ruling that the department’s recission of the prior appraisal policies following the transition from the Biden administration to the second Trump administration had rendered Rocket’s claims moot.
Rocket did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday.
