Suit blames loan servicer for pending foreclosure

A Boston-area couple who are in foreclosure, despite their herculean attempts to prevent it, have filed a lawsuit against Washington Mutual, one of the nation's largest mortgage servicing firms.

In the suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Lori and Mark Pestana of Westford allege the loan servicer was unresponsive to their repeated phone calls and to their applications to negotiate an arrangement that would have allowed them keep their house out of foreclosure.