Foreclosure-fraud class action lawsuits are starting to pile up against major banks across the country, threatening a besieged industry with billions more in potential losses.

Bank executives are swarming Capitol Hill this week to defend themselves against multiple foreclosure-related investigations, including one by all 50 state attorneys general. Talks are under way in that probe in hopes of reaching a settlement, but that wouldn't extinguish the mounting threat of an avalanche of class actions.

A congressional watchdog said in a report issued Tuesday that the foreclosure document debacle could threaten major banks with billions of dollars in losses, further prolong the housing depression and damage the government's effort to keep people in their homes.

The class actions, which could be expanded nationally, seek damages for homeowners whose properties were illegally foreclosed upon by banks using fraudulent documents. Suits have been filed in Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts that target Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., HSBC PLC and JPMorgan Chase & Co. In Florida and Maine, Ally Financial, formerly known as GMAC Mortgage, is also being targeted.

A federal judge says all low-income African American renters in Antioch can join a lawsuit accusing the city of racial discrimination.
U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong on Thursday approved class-action status for the suit, saying the renters had provided evidence that police practices in Antioch targeted African Americans. The suit was originally filed by a handful of women, but has grown to include about 1,000 people.

It claims Antioch police have tried to drive African American renters in federally subsidized housing out of the city through a policy of arrests and harassment. The city disputes the allegation.

Armstrong on Thursday also limited a potential damage award against the city. She said only four of the plaintiffs in the case would be able to seek damages.

A federal judge on Friday approved Eastman Kodak Co.'s $21.4 million offer to settle class-action lawsuits by black employees who maintained white counterparts were favored over them for pay and promotion.

In an almost seven-year legal tussle, U.S. Magistrate Jonathan Feldman signed off on a deal that pays about 3,000 current and past Kodak workers amounts ranging from $1,000 to $50,000. The decision ends a 2004 class-action lawsuit and a similar suit filed by other black workers in 2007.

The Rochester, N.Y.-based photography products maker was accused of paying black employees less than white co-workers, passing them over for promotions and maintaining a racially hostile work environment.

Last October, Feldman heard arguments in favor of the deal from Kodak and lawyers for the plaintiffs. He then fielded complaints from more than a dozen former employees who said proposed payouts were inadequate, lawyer fees too high and the offer unfairly excluded workers who left Kodak before 1999.

Under the settlement, 3,008 workers get $9.65 million and their lawyers $9.7 million in fees and expenses. Adjustments to individual awards were negotiated, with a dozen workers having $75,000 awards reduced by one-third.

The balance of the settlement will go to administering the claims and supporting enhanced diversity training for supervisors that Kodak promised as part of the deal. The company will also hire an industrial psychologist and two labor statisticians to review pay and promotion policies and recommend improvements.