The Seventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida recently denied a motion to dismiss a borrower’s counterclaims alleging violations of the Florida Consumer Collections Practices Act (FCCPA) against the owner of a mortgage loan, based on alleged communications by the servicer and foreclosure counsel with a debtor supposedly known to be represented by counsel and attempting to collect an allegedly invalid debt. In so ruling, the Court also held: Merely foreclosing on a mortgage, without more, did not constitute “debt collection” under the FDCPA; False statements regarding a debt made to a court instead of directly to the debtor are not…
Posts published in July 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of two mortgagors’ quiet title allegations against a mortgagee, holding that the plaintiff mortgagors could not assert a quiet title claim under Rhode Island law against the mortgagee defendants because Rhode Island is a title theory state, and the mortgagors’ equitable interest in title to the property at issue was not adverse to the mortgagee’s legal interest in title. A copy of the opinion is available at: Link to Opinion. The plaintiff mortgagors (one of whom is an attorney) claimed uncertainty as to which entity held an…
The Court of Appeal of the State of California, First District, recently reversed a judgment confirming an appraisal award in an action for damages to an apartment building arising from a fire, as the appraisal panel incorrectly assigned a loss value to all items submitted to it for consideration by the insured, regardless of whether the item was damaged or ever existed. A copy of the opinion is available at: Link to Opinion. The insured filed a hazard insurance claim for an apartment building as a result of a fire. The insurer investigated the claim and issued initial payment of…