The District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District, recently reversed a final summary judgment in borrowers’ favor, holding that section 559.715 of the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA) does not apply to the holder of the note and is not an affirmative defense to foreclosure actions because it does not create a condition precedent to an action to foreclose the mortgage and enforce the note. A copy of the opinion in Deutsche Bank National Trust Company v. Hagstrom is available at: Link to Opinion. A mortgagee filed a foreclosure action, attaching to the complaint a note and an allonge bearing…
Posts published in “Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law”
Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law
The U.S. Court of Appeal for the Seventh Circuit recently held that a junior mortgagee is a necessary or “required party” to an Illinois foreclosure action, because the trial court could not “accord complete relief” under Fed. R. Civ. P. 19(a) to the plaintiff mortgagee without the junior mortgagee, as the junior mortgagee would still have an interest in the property. A copy of the opinion in U.S. Bank National Association v. Cheryle Collins-Fuller T. is available at: Link to Opinion. A mortgagee filed a foreclosure action in federal court in Illinois based on diversity jurisdiction. The mortgagee had its main office…
The Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District, recently rejected the arguments of two loan guarantors that a bank’s current claims against them were barred by res judicata because the current claims arose out of the same guaranty that the bank used to sue them in a prior action. In so ruling, the Court held that where a single guaranty contemplates multiple loan transactions, each loan transaction constitutes a distinct transaction implicating the guaranty. Therefore, the operative “transaction” for purposes of res judicata is each of the loans. A copy of the opinion in BMO Harris Bank, N.A., v. K & K…
The District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, recently reversed an order imposing sanctions against a foreclosing mortgagee, holding that the trial court erred in granting the motion for sanctions because the plaintiff mortgagee had an objectively reasonable belief that a non-signing spouse was a properly named defendant in the case. A copy of the opinion in Trust Mortgage, LLC v. Dina Ferlanti, et al is available at: Link to Opinion. A mortgagee filed a foreclosure action against husband and wife borrowers. The note and mortgage reflected only the wife as the borrower, but the first page…
The District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, recently reversed the dismissal of a mortgage foreclosure action, holding that the trial court “erred in using the doctrine of unclean hands to dismiss the bank’s foreclosure action.” A copy of the opinion in Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Williamson is available at: Link to Opinion. The borrower defaulted on her mortgage and the mortgagee sued to foreclose. The borrower raised several defenses, including that “the original lender committed fraud and used unclean hands in securing the loan.” Specifically, the borrower alleged that “the original lender’s loan consultant falsified…
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently held that a homeowners association may establish and enforce multiple contemporaneous liens for unpaid common expenses, each with a six-month period of priority over the first mortgage, by filing successive legal actions. A copy of the opinion in Drummer Boy Homes Association, Inc. v. Britton is available at: Link to Opinion. The borrowers purchased a condominium unit, and later began withholding payment of their monthly common expense assessments because of a dispute concerning parking rules and related fines. The condominium association commenced an action to recover the unpaid common expenses and to enforce a…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently held that, under Utah law, only the actual levy of a municipal tax assessment on the property constitutes a defect in, or a lien or encumbrance on, title to the insured property. Because the levy of assessment at issue occurred after the title policy was issued, the Tenth Circuit held that the title insurance policy did not cover a loss incurred when a municipality foreclosed on the insured property. A copy of the opinion in BV Jordanelle, LLC v. Old Republic National Title Insurance Company is available at: Link to Opinion. In…
The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada recently confirmed that a homeowner association’s foreclosure of its superpriority lien cannot extinguish a property interest of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac while those entities are under the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) conservatorship. In so ruling, the Court also denied class certification, holding that the issue of whether Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac held an interest in the property at issue at the time of a homeowner association foreclosure sale presents an impermissible individualized factual inquiry that would require “mini-trials” as to each affected property. A copy of the opinion…
In response to a request from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently held that a recorded attorney’s affidavit attesting to the proper acknowledgment of a recorded mortgage with a Certificate of Acknowledgment that omits the mortgagors’ names, in certain circumstances, may cure the defect in the Acknowledgment. The Court also held that a recorded attorney’s affidavit attesting to the proper acknowledgment of a recorded mortgage with a Certificate of Acknowledgment that omits the mortgagors’ names, in certain circumstances, may provide constructive notice of the existence of the mortgage to a…
Distinguishing its prior ruling in U.S. Bank National Ass’n v. Quadomain Condominium Ass’n, the District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, recently held that a foreclosure of a homeowners association’s lien against the property owner filed after the recording of a lis pendens by a first mortgagee is not barred, where the association’s subordinate lien was imposed under the association’s declaration of covenants recorded before the first mortgagee recorded its lis pendens. In so ruling, the Court confirmed that the homeowners association’s foreclosure action is inferior to the foreclosure of the first mortgage. A copy of…
The Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District, recently held that a loan owner may be liable for misrepresentations made by the loan servicer. The Court also held that a loan servicer may owe a duty of care to a borrower through application of the “Biakanja” factors, even though its involvement in the loan does not exceed its conventional role. A copy of the opinion in Daniels v. Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc. is available at: Link to Opinion. In May 2005, the borrowers obtained an adjustable rate mortgage. In early 2008, the borrowers asked their servicer to…
The Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District, recently held that when a mortgagee obtains a deficiency judgment in a foreclosure action, purchases the property at a judicial sale, and then resells it to a third party for an amount that exceeds the price paid at the judicial sale, the debtor is not entitled to a setoff in the mortgagee’s enforcement proceedings to recover the deficiency judgment. A copy of the opinion in Old Second National Bank v. Jafry is available at: Link to Opinion. In June 2013, the trial court entered a judgment of foreclosure and sale with respect to a…