Lawmakers in California this week pulled from their agenda a series of bills designed to help borrowers in a significant, if temporary, victory for the mortgage industry in the long drawn-out legal battles spawned by the mortgage collapse in 2008. The proposed California Homeowner Bill of Rights featured many of the requirements that have been incorporated in evolving national servicing standards. One new provision would require servicers to pay a $25 “fine” each time a borrower defaults; the money would go to a fund to investigate fraud. But two of the six bills in the package were suddenly pulled from...