Evans Bancorp will fight NY AG on mortgage lending

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Allissa Kline

Buffalo Business First Reporter- Buffalo Business First

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The parent company of Evans Bank N.A. plans to refute a series of racial discrimination charges when it responds to a lawsuit filed last month by the state Attorney General's Office.

Evans Bancorp Inc. will file a response by Nov. 3 to allegations that it deliberately denied residential mortgage lending products and services to African-Americans on Buffalo's East Side, attorney Dennis Vacco said.

"Our answer will make it clear that we categorically refute every allegation that the AG's office has made and we're going to outline in legal terms our affirmative defenses to their claims," said Vacco, a partner at Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP and a former state attorney general.

According to the lawsuit, filed Sept. 2, Evans created a map defining its lending area in Buffalo and surrounding communities that excluded the predominantly African-American neighborhoods on Buffalo's East Side. The lawsuit alleges the bank did not solicit customers or market its loan products outside of its lending area and did not locate branches or other facilities within the East Side neighborhood.

The lawsuit requests a trial jury and calls for Evans to pay monetary damages and civil fines as well as attorneys' fees and other costs. Because it was filed in federal court, the two sides must attend mandatory mediation before the court process begins, Vacco said.

Allissa Kline covers financial services, accounting and trade