CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced a lawsuit on Thursday against Nationwide Title Clearing for allegedly filing faulty documents with county recorders in Illinois.

Nationwide Title Clearing Inc. is a company based in Florida that prepares documents for mortgage servicers to use against borrowers who are in bankruptcy, foreclosure or default.

"The practices that NTC used were a key contributor to the mortgage crisis by undermining the integrity and accuracy of the mortgage servicing and foreclosure process," Madigan said.

NTC provides a range of mortgage loan services to eight of the 10 biggest mortgage servicers and lenders in the nation. The company specializes in recording, processing and creating mortgage assignments, which are often used for a lender to foreclosure on a borrower.

Madigan filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging multiple violations of the Deceptive Practices Act, the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act. Madigan is requesting that the court require NTC to review and correct all documents it created and recorded unlawfully in Illinois. In addition, the lawsuit seeks that all revenues, profits and gains achieved in part or in whole due to unlawful practices be paid back and to impose civil penalties against NTC.

Madigan is committed to holding all entities responsible that contributed to the financial crisis with unlawful misconduct. Madigan sued the national credit ratings agency Standard & Poor 's last week for its allegedly fraudulent role in giving high ratings to risky mortgage-backed investments in the years before the housing market crash.

Madigan alleged that S&P violated its independence as a ratings agency after doling out high ratings to risky, unworthy investments as part of a corporate strategy to increase market share and revenue.