DETROIT — A judge on Thursday ruled that a lawsuit over questionable loan practices filed by the federal government against Quicken loans can proceed.

The federal government claims, among other things, that Quicken Loans Inc. intentionally altered information or overlooked problems with loan applications in order to issue hundreds of thousands of government-backed mortgages.

If loans met a certain criteria, they were eligible to be insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), meaning if a mortgage recipient failed to keep up with payments, the government would pay for Quicken’s losses.

Attorneys for the Detroit-based, Dan Gilbert-founded lender asked U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith to dismiss the claims, which the judge did, in part.

Goldsmith on Thursday dismissed claims stemming from loans issued prior to 2009 because the six-year statute of limitations had expired by the time the complaint was filed in 2015. He also dismissed claims that Quicken intentionally altered data to comply with HUD loan requirements.

He declined to dismiss several other government allegations in the lawsuit.

“Quicken Loans is pleased the court recognized that portions of the Justice Department’s overreaching lawsuit against the company exceeded the bounds of legality and were dismissed narrowing the claims significantly in terms of timeframe and scope,” the company said in a statement. “Quicken Loans is eager and more than prepared to prove to a jury that any remaining allegations are completely and totally false.”

The government says Quicken encouraged underwriters to request secondary property appraisals, in violation of Federal Housing Association rules, to increase likelihood of approval on government-backed loans.

“I don’t think the media or any other mortgage company (FNMA, FHA, FMLC) would like the fact we have a team who is responsible to push back on appraisers,” Divisional Vice President Clint Bonkowski wrote in an evidentiary email cited in the judge’s ruling.

The email message was in response to Quicken Operations Director Darren Thomas, who directed employees to ask appraisers for the “max increase available.”

Agents also increased the odds of approval and size of loan amounts by strategically requesting financial data at times that would benefit the applicant, the government claims; for instance, using bank balance figures and support documents when balances were abnormally high.

There were various other claims upheld by Goldsmith that were addressed in the judge’s 54-page ruling on Quicken’s dismissal motion, which can be read in full below.

In April of 2015, Quicken sued the federal government days before the Justice Department filed its case against the lender, claiming it was unfairly being pressured to accept a costly settlement deal that would include an admission of guilt in the faulty loan investigation.

A federal judge dismissed that case in December 2015, and Quicken appealed the ruling in January this year.

A week after Quicken filed it’s complaint against the government in 2015, the Justice Department responded with its own lawsuit, alleging “Quicken instituted and encouraged an underwriting process that led to employees disregarding FHA rules and falsely certifying compliance with underwriting requirements in order to reap the profits from FHA-insured mortgages.”

Quicken officials deny the federal government’s allegations.

“Not only have we had the lowest default rates of any FHA lender in the country but we have done so while at the same time leading the nation in FHA closed volume and market share,” said Qucken Vice Chairman Bill Emerson said. “We are dedicated to continuing our role as the nation’s largest FHA lender, and maintaining our record of top performance among lenders in this vital American program.”

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