All predatory lending lawsuits filed in the U.S. against Countrywide Financial will be consolidated and heard in U.S. district court in San Diego, according to a decision announced today (Oct. 14) by the Federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. City Attorney Mike Aguirre, who has filed suits against Countrywide, Washington Mutual and Wachovia, represented the City in a hearing in Boston late last month. "San Diego will become the center of gravity for the Countrywide subprime lending cases," says Aguirre. Attorneys general of Illinois, Indiana, California, Florida, West Virginia, and Connecticut have filed similar suits against Countrywide, which has been purchased by Bank of America, San Diego's primary lender. U.S. district court in San Diego was chosen because two of the pending actions are in California, Countrywide is based in the state, and the court has the capacity to handle the cases. Aguirre filed his suit in July; he called for a freeze in home foreclosures, a similar approach to that offered this week by presidential candidate Barack Obama. Many economists recommended that the nation support mortgages to stem the downspiral in home prices. By choosing instead to bail out banks, the U.S. government is engaging in a practice in which "dishonest loans are made honest loans," says Aguirre. "We should clean up the fraud instead of perpetuate it."