Mass Court Affirms Notice requirements, Holder in Due Course and raises New Issues on Auction Bids

Massachusetts is a power of sale state (non-judicial, but there is plenty of securitized meat in here for everyone). Good stuff to quote from — with Banks making the arguments that we are promoting on this Blog. The issues include (a) notice (b) unmarketable title and unable to get title title insurance (c) void certificate [...]

Devil in the Details: Void, Voidable and Invalid

EDITOR’S NOTE ON SAL D’ANNA CONTRIBUTION: Excellent submission Sal. I have a few thoughts in addition to what you have stated in your post. You make a great point about the distinction between void, voidable and invalid. They are three different things. In the context of a securitized mortgage and note, there are additional factors [...]

Borrower’s RESPONSE TO MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND TO TAX ATTORNEYS FEES AND ANSWER

RESPONSE TO MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND TO TAX ATTORNEYS FEES AND ANSWER Defendant, DOUGLAS SCHWARTZ AND TAMMY SCHWARTZ, files its response and additional answer to plaintiffs U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR STRUCTURED ASSET SECURITIES CORPORATION (SASCO) 2007-BNC1, Mortgage Pass-through Certificates, Series 2007-bnc1 motion for summary judgment and to tax attorneys fees. 1. [...]

MERS Goes Down in Flames: 3 Judge Panel Rips Industry Practices

Judge’s ruling deals blow to national mortgage servicer BY TIM O’REILEY A Las Vegas bankruptcy judge has dealt a blow to an obscure but critical piece of the mortgage enforcement machinery that could slow foreclosures. After a rare hearing in front of three judges last year that initially encompassed 27 cases, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge [...]

Credit Default Swaps: Effect on Foreclosure Litigation

The actual certificates of asset backed securities (ABS) and in particular mortgage backed securities (MBS) were sold to investors. And they weren’t just sold, they “sold forward.” This is a form of short selling wherein the investment bank sells the security first and THEN waits until it can get the underlying mortgage and note at [...]

UCC: possession is not an indication of ownership of the note

UCC: possession is not an indication of ownership of the note. Recording of collateral assignments is not required under Revised Article 9. Enforcement of the debt without the note is allowable under Article 3. Equitable arguments are available to prevent a borrower from benefiting from the industry’s inability to keep track of its documents. by [...]

DOJ Probing Mortgage Data Processing Firms

DOJ Probing Mortgage Data Processing Firms By Peg Brickley Of DOW JONES DAILY BANKRUPTCY REVIEW The Department of Justice is conducting a nationwide probe of the company whose automated systems handle half the mortgages in the U.S., looking for evidence Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) has “improperly directed” the actions of lawyers in bankruptcy court. [...]

LIVINGLIES: Lawyers, in rush to regain properties, can exploit judges’ workload

Lies a new tool in foreclosure Lawyers, in rush to regain properties, can exploit judges’ workload By Todd Ruger Published: Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 1:00 a.m. Foreclosure lawyers want to take back property as fast as possible, and sometimes they do not let the facts slow them down. In case after case, lawyers representing [...]

Technology and Professional Responsibility: NewTrak and Required Due Diligence -”Plausible Deniability” collides with reality

The Judge authored a 58 page opinion ”to share my education with participants in the bankruptcy system who may be similarly unfamiliar with the extent that a third party intermediary drives the Chapter 13 process.” Opinion, p. 30.

where, as here, the debtor contests the relief sought, the flaws in the automated process become apparent. At this juncture, an attorney must cease processing files and act like a lawyer. That means she must become personally engaged, conferring with the client directly and abandoning her reliance on computer screens as an expression of her client’s will. This did not happen in this case until the Court became involved. It should not have taken judicial intervention to bring the Claim Objection to its conclusion.

Pretender Lenders Try to Get Third Parties to Clear Up Title, Assignments

Editor’s Note: Nationwide (described in the article below) is not the only company that is in the business of trying to “clear up” the title, assignment and, ownership and recording problems caused by the manner in which the loans were securitized. In many cases we are seeing fabricated documents, signatures from unauthorized people, notarization in [...]

Time to Write to Obama, Senators and Congressman

Many Thanks to Ron Ryan, Esq. representing the Tucson Bankruptcy Bar for the submission below: Editor’s Note: Obama wasn’t kidding when he he said the thing that humbled or frustrated him the most was how slow Washington is to “get on board.” Dick Durbin had the class and guts to say it outright. The banks [...]

Cramdown Vote: Banks Bought Senators On The Cheap

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced legislation in the Senate Thursday which would allow homeowners in bankruptcy to renegotiate — or cramdown — mortgages with banks. His corresponding amendment to the House-passed bankruptcy reform bill is scheduled to be voted on at 2:30. (Read the whole thing.) The measure is widely expected to fail, as crucial [...]

Cuomo Spotted Appraisal Fraud as Core Problem in 2007

WaMu faulted on home loans Colluded to inflate property values, N.Y. attorney general says By AUBREY COHEN AND BILL VIRGIN P-I REPORTERS New York’s attorney general has accused Washington Mutual Inc. of pressuring a real estate appraisal company to deliver inflated home values in order to justify making loans, a practice that some appraisers have [...]

Appraisal Fraud: Rules set to cut off mortgage originators from appraisers this week

Thank you Alan Baron for submitting the article. Editor’s Note: Maybe too little too late but a good start nonetheless. This issue is very simple. In the law it is called “fraud on the market.” Wall Street targeted specific swaths of geography and made it look like the entire market was going wild in that [...]