Judge sets trial timeline for Mutual of Omaha and Longbridge

An order signed by a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California has established a forward timeline for the ongoing lawsuit between major reverse mortgage industry lenders Mutual of Omaha Mortgage and Longbridge Financial. A trial is scheduled to begin in November 2026, according to court documents viewed by HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD).

Motions to amend the pleadings are due by July 3. A video status conference consisting of attorneys on both sides is scheduled for September 2025, and all factual discovery by the parties must be complete by Jan. 5, 2026.

A video-based mandatory settlement conference will take place on Jan. 20, 2026, with parties authorized to offer full settlement authority should they reach an agreement.

Subject matter experts and any rebuttal experts will need to be finalized over two staggering dates in February 2026, with “expert discovery” to be completed by May 4. Pretrial motions must be filed one month later on June 4, with disclosure requirements needing to be completed in September. A final pretrial conference will take place on Oct. 9, 2026, with the trial scheduled to commence on Nov. 9.

The magistrate judge stated in the order that the dates detailed will not be modified unless there is “good cause shown.”

All of this stems from a 2024 lawsuit filed by Longbridge against Mutual of Omaha, in which Longbridge alleged that a series of advertising websites for reverse mortgage products are deceptive. This boosted Mutual of Omaha’s offerings without clearly specifying to consumers that Mutual of Omaha had control over one of them.

A few months later, Mutual of Omaha countersued Longbridge, alleging that the company had engaged in improper advertising practices of its own, while denying the core allegations levied by Longbridge.

The first major decision of the case saw Judge Dana M. Sabraw rule that some of Longbridge’s claims in a request for a preliminary injunction warranted limited relief, having found that “the law and facts clearly favor some of Longbridge’s claims.”

A couple of months after Longbridge’s initial filing but prior to Mutual of Omaha’s first substantive response, the companies reportedly attempted to settle. They conferred again earlier this month for a required “early neutral evaluation conference,” but a settlement was not reached.

A Mutual of Omaha attorney noted in December that the companies were “actively pursuing early mediation efforts aimed at narrowing the issues or achieving a resolution without further litigation or escalation,” according to a court filing. But the company responded to the allegations the following month and the trial has been progressing steadily since then.

Longbridge told RMD after the ruling to grant limited injunctive relief that it was pleased with the outcome, while Mutual of Omaha did not respond to inquiries seeking comment.