The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently rejected a loan servicer’s appeal from a Bankruptcy Appellate Panel’s ruling to remand to the lower bankruptcy court a punitive damages award for alleged discharge violations.
Posts tagged as “Mortgage Law”
The Supreme Court of Florida recently held that trial courts have continuing jurisdiction to hear a third party purchaser’s motion to recover the value of repairs and improvements made to property purchased at a foreclosure sale that was later vacated, quashing and reversing the contrary ruling of Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a consumer’s Truth in Lending Act (TILA) claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, holding that the claim was barred by the jurisdiction-stripping provision of the federal Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of a consumer’s claims against the owner and loan servicer of her mortgage loan that their collection statements supposedly violated the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93A, and the Massachusetts Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93, 49.
In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently held that the protections against default judgment under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) do not apply to the seizure and sale of real property in in rem proceedings under Louisiana law where the debtors have agreed to a confession of judgment in the mortgage or security agreement.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently affirmed judgment against a borrower for quiet title claims brought against the owner and servicer of her mortgage loan, and entered judgment of foreclosure in the loan owner and servicer’s favor on their counterclaims for foreclosure against the borrower.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently reversed as excessive a jury’s award of $3 million in punitive damages against a mortgage servicer for inadequate recordkeeping, misapplication of payments, and poor customer service. However, the Court affirmed the jury’s award of $582,000 in compensatory damages and remanded the case to the trial court with instructions to reduce the punitive damages award to $582,000, a 1:1 ratio of compensatory to punitive damages.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently reversed the dismissal of a pro se consumer’s claims under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), holding that he stated a plausible claim for relief with his allegations that the defendant creditor obtained his credit report without his consent, and failed to reasonably investigate his credit reporting disputes. However, the Court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the consumer’s claim under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) that the creditor defendant used a “false name” in attempting to collect the debt owed to it.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that the purchaser of residential mortgage loans could not require the seller of the loans to repurchase purportedly defective loans under their agreement after the loans had gone through foreclosure. However, the seller was required to repurchase the defective loans that had not gone through foreclosure. Accordingly, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the ruling of the trial court granting summary judgment in part to the seller and in part to the purchaser. A copy of the opinion in CitiMortgage, Inc. v. Equity Bank, N.A. is available at: Link to Opinion. Over the course…
In a putative class action of borrowers who received mortgage statements after a bankruptcy discharge, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently reversed a trial court order denying certification for failure to establish predominance. In so ruling, the Eleventh Circuit held that a mortgage servicer’s affirmative defense that it is not liable under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA), Fla. Stat. § 559.55 et seq., because the only remedy for violating a discharge injunction is under the Bankruptcy Code requires no…
The Illinois Appellate Court, First District, recently held that an entity with only a purported equitable interest in a property was only a permissive party to a foreclosure and not a necessary party, and therefore the plaintiff mortgagee was not required to serve the entity with process. Thus, the allegedly defective service did not provide a basis to vacate the judgments entered against it. Additionally, the Court held that because lack of proper service was not apparent from the face of the record, the foreclosure sale buyer’s interest in the property was protected. Accordingly, the First District affirmed the ruling…
The Court of Appeal for the Second District of California recently affirmed the dismissal of a borrower’s claims for wrongful foreclosure alleging that the assignment of his mortgage to the foreclosing entity was invalid. In so ruling, the Second District rejected the borrower’s argument that a mortgage cannot be assigned to another entity while the loan is in default as illogical and incorrect, in part because this reasoning would allow borrowers to prevent lenders from assigning debt by refusing to make payments. A copy of the opinion in Myles v. Pennymac Loan Services, LLC is available at: Link to Opinion.…