has anyone sued a bank for appraisal refund

[Brandon McCombs]

Has anyone successfully sued a bank for an appraisal refund due to an appraisal that had errors in it? Obviously suing the appraisers is much more difficult since I'm not the direct client of the appraisers but I figure I can sue the bank which is the appraiser's client. And then if they wanted they can sue the appraisers for the same thing and for the same reasons (potentially). I had already documented issues with the appraisal and sent those to the bank. They approached the appraisers who said they weren't going to change anything. I eventually submitted a complaint to the state appraiser board. Although the appraisers were not punished they were formally reprimanded in writing for violating multiple standard rules from USPAP. I provided these letters (obtained via a FOIA request) to the bank but they still wouldn't give a refund stating that the appraisal was valid. However the only reason they say it's 'valid' is because they got a quantified valuation out of it; it apparently doesn't matter to them whether it's a value that can be trusted.

I've since submitted a civil complaint to magistrate court to try getting my money back from the bank. The court gave them a chance to response and they once again stated that they don't give refunds just because the valuation was lower than what was needed for the loan. However, in my complaint I never stated anything about valuation, only the validity of the report content and cited the state appraiser board reprimand. 

I've read about various court cases in non-small claims court that was decided in favor of the borrower in some cases and the appraisers in others, stating that borrowers can't sue to get money back because they aren't the rightful client of the appraisal. But the courts that decided otherwise stated that appraisers still held accountable to the public, not just the banks, which I think is a good viewpoint considering USPAP also states that appraisers must perform their work ethically and not negligently to uphold the trust the public has for them.

Anyone have an opinion or their own story to share?