A major nonconforming lender, NovaStar Financial, has been slapped with a lawsuit that could create new liability for net branch operators under the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. But attorneys for NovaStar say the claims made by plaintiffs in Pitts et. al v. NovaStar, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, are dubious and reflect a misunderstanding of the way that net branching works. …