Another source of confusion in these cases is the morass of facts involved in each case. Because the cases almost always involve fraud or other wrongful conduct, the facts are often quite complicated. Wrongdoers often act through a series of nominees, designees, straw people, and shell corporations; engage in conduct that wrongfully enables them to collect payments on loans they no longer own or to sell the same loan more than once; and otherwise act to obfuscate and cover their tracks.
Citibank bought it at sale for $100.
Over five million families were foreclosed on since the financial crisis,
Bank of America, and MERS allowed to proceed
We alleged the law firm directed one of its paralegals to fraudulently robo-sign mortgage assignments, and then used one of those mortgage assignments to foreclose on our client’s home months earlier. After Mr. Slorp retained our firm, we filed a federal lawsuit alleging their actions violated several laws, including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). The Sixth Circuit’s federal appellate decision allowed our racketeering claim to proceed – a major victory for people wrongly foreclosed on by banks using robo-signed documentation. The decision also found in favor of consumers on a very important issue surrounding their ability to challenge documents in foreclosure cases.
"If Bank of America had no right to file the foreclosure action, it makes no difference whether Slorp previously had defaulted on his mortgage."
The complaints did not allege that the Trusts held any interest in the loans whether by assignment or any other means... and the Notes make no reference to the Trusts.
"In the case of original mortgages and promissory notes, they are not merely exhibits but instruments which must be surrendered prior to the issuance of a judgment. The judgment takes the place of the promissory note. Surrendering the note is essential so that it cannot thereafter be negotiated."- Johnson v. Hudlett
In its first enforcement action under mortgage-servicing rules that went into effect at the start of this year, the agency reached a settlement with Flagstar Bank over accusations that it prevented thousands of homeowners from averting foreclosure.
It's refreshing to see reporting that tells it like it truly is...
US attorney general’s tenure has proven unhelpful to the millions of victims of mortgage abuses in the US. As for homeowners, they received a raw deal, in the form of little or no compensation for some of the greatest consumer abuses in American history.
is VOID and never happened. Trustee deed VOID too.
This ruling is significant because it renders ReconTrust foreclosure action invalid as if it never happened. For years Utah homeowners have battled Bank of America and its subsidiary ReconTrust Company over the validity of the bank’s foreclosure actions in Utah.
Court Agrees to Publish
Appellants in this case alleged just such a pattern in their first amended complaint against respondent Bank of America. Because they are representing themselves, their complaint is not in the form to which courts are accustomed. Nevertheless, allegations of viable causes of action can be sufficiently discerned to defeat a demurrer. We therefore reverse the judgment dismissing their case against BofA and return them to the trial court for further proceedings.
After conducting three securitization audits on property, it was found that Seattle Mortgage Company was paid off in full in 2006 by Ginnie Mae, Larry said. "Bank of America and RMS don't have anything to do with loan," he added. The county can pursue an audit to determine if fraudulent recordings have occurred.
While the settlements promise billions in consumer relief, average consumers – and not the banks – are picking up a significant share of the tab.
For evidence of the trend, look no further than Bank of America‘s (BofA) recent $17 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ). BofA promised to pay off more than 41 percent of the fine by providing consumer relief, which includes lowering mortgage payments for certain borrowers. The catch is that BofA doesn’t have to actually own the mortgages it intends to write down.
The question at hand is, if BofA doesn’t own these mortgages, who does? And the most likely answer is, you.
The Note bears an origination date of 2005, and contains a stamp “signed” by robo-signer Cynthia Riley who testified in a deposition taken in a Florida foreclosure case that she never endorsed any notes or put any endorsement stamps on notes from 2004 through 2006
Looking for a lead Plaintiff
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from August 12, 2014. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Darren Robbins of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com.
Elm Tree Investments v. OCWEN
A title insurer owes $4.9 million for contributing to the failure of mortgages that caused the defunct Washington Mutual Bank to lose millions of dollars, a federal judge ruled.
FDIC v. Attorney's Title Insurance Fund
Replay:
MERS functions to disguise the true owners of mortgages and promissory notes around the country. If an organized crime family set up a shell company to disguise ownership of its assets in the same manner MERS does, a prosecutor would label the incorporation an overt act in furtherance of a money-laundering conspiracy. (Then shut down MERS, send the officers and facilitators to prison, and return the property rights to the homeowners.)
Full Deposition of MERS William Hultman
Already Lost Your Paperwork
Even though it was the banks that came to the courts with forged documents, it’s almost impossible to find an example of a Florida judge ruling against a bank. Judge Raul Zambrano has never ruled in favor of a homeowner.
Foreclosure fraud: Of all the crimes committed during the financial crisis and in its aftermath, this is one that should have been the easiest to identify and prosecute.
The Court also made note of a loan modification to the borrower which was signed by MERS, which was curious as MERS is not a lender and does not have the authority to modify a loan.
Specifically, they alleged that they paid off the arrearage amount in full one month, only to be told the following month that they owed an arrearage amount of ten times the previous month’s amount.
For the last 20 years, Bank of America and other banks have used this scheme to manufacture performing loans into default.
"We are stymied in our effort to understand the cause of the Tielkes’ alleged default, if indeed they ever were in default."... "These checks were either returned to the Tielkes or placed in a suspense account because the bank viewed them as insufficient to cure the default, but the propriety of that view depends on whether there was a valid default in the first place."
BACHLS wanted to know what was owed on the mortgage, and what the Torrenga's monthly payment amount was. Kathy was confused. Why didn't they know these things already? Hadn't someone been keeping an accounting of what they had been paying for years? It was at this time that they were told they were in FORECLOSURE! They were in a PANIC. They were not behind! Their payment to the old company wasn't even due yet. That was when the nightmare started.
One judicial election certainly does not make up for the outrage and human tragedy that has defined this foreclosure crisis era. But it feels good to see some measure of justice prevail, at least by subtracting one of the worst of the worst in bank-loving judges. It does show that the spirit of the movement that gave its best shot at forcing accountability on the most powerful forces in America remains alive.
Short and Simple:
The plaintiff failed to demonstrate its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law, because it did not eliminate triable issues of fact regarding whether it had standing as the lawful holder or assignee of the subject note on the date it commenced the action.
The circuit court ordered the surplus to be disbursed to Wells Fargo, and the Devers appealed. We reverse and remand for the circuit court to order the surplus disbursed to the Devers.
Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal just reversed a Final Judgment of Foreclosure because the trial court improperly denied a motion to dismiss for lack of prosecution.
Trickery in Mortgages
One Bank of America employee describes trying to “trick” a system that screened mortgages that the Federal Housing Administration agreed to insure. When using this system, Bank of America sometimes changed an applicant’s financial information and resubmitted the loan many times to try for approval. In at least one case, a Bank of America underwriter tried to pass the F.H.A. screening more than 40 times, according to the documents. In other cases, “underwriters regularly changed the relevant data and resubmitted the loans more than 20 times,” the documents said.
A judicial order that grants LNV permission to deprive us of our property when the judge issuing that judgment has not even read our pleadings, and when no credible witness has testified, when no discovery has been permitted, and when we were intentionally denied a continuance to obtain another attorney and thereby forced to proceed pro-se is a gross violation of our right to due process.
The court concluded that plaintiffs have alleged a cause of action for fraud against defendants where the complaint alleged that the loan documents concealed the terms of plaintiffs' loans and plaintiffs have alleged facts establishing defendants' liability for the alleged fraud.
to be Resolved at Trial
MERS Falsely Declared Itself the Beneficiary of Mr. Knecht’s Deed of Trust, and Purported to Convey to DB Rights MERS Never Held.
From its inception, Mr. Knecht’s deed of trust ran afoul of the Deed of Trust Act by designating MERS as its beneficiary. The Act declares that the beneficiary of a deed of trust is “the holder of the instrument or document evidencing the obligations secured by the deed of trust .
*First Tier Penalties - $5,000 per day.
*Second Tier Penalties - for reckless engagement in violations, $25,000 per day.
*Third Tier Penalties - for knowing violation, maximum penalty of $1,000,000 per day.
Officers, directors and employees of non-compliant lenders also face cease and desist orders as well as a prohibition from recovering fines and penalties from insurance; a prohibition from offsetting borrower claims with amounts paid for penalties; and other monetary damages as well as restitution, rescission, reformation of contracts, refunds, and return of compensation.
BUSTED!
"We knew what Bank of America did was wrong in leading my brother and other homeowners into default," Kevin McBride said. "But the whole connection between the attorney general giving protection for that kind of activity never became clear until the criminal case was filed just a few weeks ago." Shurtleff and Swallow personally benefitted from their involvement in the case at the expense of Utah homeowners, including the McBrides, whose houses Bank of America had foreclosed on. The couple says the bank forced them into default as a condition of modifying their loan and then tried to take their home.
Some felony charges against Shurtleff and Swallow, including receiving or soliciting a bribe and accepting gifts when prohibited by law, are connected to the Bank of America case.
2010 REPLAY: Dismissed with prejudice for FRAUD...
Here the Judge got really angry: "The court finds WAMU, with the assistance of its previous counsel, Shapiro and Fishman, submitted the assignment when [they] knew that only Fannie Mae was entitled to foreclose on the Mortgage, and that WAMU never owned or held the note and Mortgage." And, oops, "the Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that WAMU, Chase and Shapiro & Fishman committed fraud on this Court" and that these "acts committed by WAMU, Chase and Shapiro amount to a "knowing deception intended to prevent the defendants from discovery essential to defending the claim" and are therefore fraud.
Not only did the original mortgage holder get back all its money from the loan, plus all missed payments, out of pocket expenses and various generous fees, it also made a very respectable profit on the convoluted but perfectly 'legal' slight of hand. All paid for by you -- the US tax-payer.
Our sham of a democracy has been hijacked by a political mafia and its corporate paymasters. Changing President or the control of Congress will not stop this and other corporate rackets. Voters need to start asking some serious questions of potential candidates for the 2016 elections unless they wish to keep subsidizing the financial losses of the establishment. Alternatively, they can just dust off their pitchforks.
Although poorly drafted, we agree that potentially meritorious claims can be distilled from the allegations of the complaint.
In one issue, the Bruesses argue that the trial court erred in granting judgment because (1) neither of them signed the settlement agreement, (2) they withdrew their consent before judgment was entered, preventing judgment on a motion to enforce, (3) dismissal of their claims with prejudice had no basis in law, and (4) the settlement agreement mandated that any disputes would be resolved by returning to mediation, not a judgment.
The court granted the motion of the defendant Jose Sarmiento to bar the plaintiff from collecting interest or fees that accrued on the subject loan since December 1, 2009, to bar the plaintiff from recovering from him any costs or attorneys' fees it incurred in this action.
Fuster said the ruling gave borrowers "a sword against the lenders and they can use it immediately."
- Bank of America has cited no case law in support of its proposition that a photocopy of a promissory note is self-authenticating when no evidence has been presented that it is a true and accurate copy.
- R.C. 1301.307 addresses the authentication of entire documents, and that statute is limited to certain document types, of which a photocopied promissory note is not one.
- We must reverse the decision of the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of Bank of America.
Concurring Opinion: It is fundamental that “[d]ocuments that have not been sworn, certified, or authenticated by way of affidavit ‘have no evidentiary value.’ ” Simply attaching the note and mortgage to the complaint does not make them proper for consideration on summary judgment.
Recording of False or Deceptive Documents
BofA argue that they did not record any "false" or "deceptive" documents. The Washington Supreme Court has held that "characterizing MERS as the beneficiary has the capacity to deceive", and such a characterization presumptively satisfies the unfair act or practice element of a CPA claim. Here, certain documents, such as the Appointment of Successor Trustee, characterize MERS as the beneficiary of the Deed of Trust. Thus, the act of recording that document presumptively satisfies the first CPA element.
and cover them up are GUILTY...
Knowing about a crime and not reporting it is just about as bad as actually committing one. The official term for this act is misprision, or the failure to report a known felony to authorities even though the person reporting the offense is not directly involved.
18 USC-4: Misprision of Felony
Ms. Hagan was also prosecuted criminally by the Attorney General’s office and eventually pled guilty to a third class felony for tampering with public records. A California notary public pled guilty to a felony violation of Penal Code Section 115, offering a forged instrument to be registered in a public office within the state, and Penal Code Section 118, for perjury.
Another pro se wins reversal
"We agree with homeowner and Reverse."
A note with an undated indorsement in blank, which was not produced at the time the complaint was filed, but only at trial, was insufficient to establish a bank's standing to foreclose.
Our holding should not be read as imposing any sweeping duty upon district courts to devise legal theories for pro se plaintiffs. Rather, a complaint should be found to raise a claim only “if the essence of an allegation is discernable, even though it is not pleaded with legal nicety[.]” Stone, 364 F.3d at 915. Here, the essence of Topchian’s breach of contract claim was discernable because he attached the Agreement—a contract—to his pleadings and alleged that Chase had not complied with that contract.
(h/t Matt Weidner) On appeal appellant argues, inter alia, the final judgment of foreclosure must be reversed because the appellees did not introduce into evidence the original note and mortgage.
We agree and reverse.
Deutsche Bank to pay costs and SJ Reversed
The Opinion and Appellant's Brief
Deutsche’s void deed assignment places a cloud on Vasquez’s title.That cloud does not require Vasquez to establish the superiority of her claim despite Deutshce’s contention. Rather the law requires her to establish her interest in the property, that her title to the property is affected by a claim by the defendant, and the claim, although facially valid, is invalid or unenforceable.
The Williams were never materially behind on their mortgage payments, the judge said, but they were pushed into bankruptcy to keep Ocwen from taking their home in foreclosure.
The biggest investment most Americans will make is now the target of the biggest financial crimes in history and labeled:
When fully exposed, this will make Enron look like a parking ticket.
From the 2005 transcript of hearing in MERS v. Cabrera
"It truly concerns me, however, that thousands and thousands -- thousands and thousands of mortgage foreclosure actions have been filed with these allegations. I am not certain what remedy, if any, these people would have were it to be determined that MERS was not ever the proper party notwithstanding that these folks [might] have been in default what their recourse, if any, would be. I'm not certain with the satisfaction of mortgages that have been filed on behalf of MERS how good those are and I am not certain how good title to property is that people bought at these foreclosure sales if it turns or becomes established that MERS was indeed not only not the right party but misrepresented by way of their pleadings and affidavits that they held something they didn't own, so I'm not certain of the consequences but it seems vast."
- The Honorable Judge Jon Gordon - September 2005 (Emphasis added)
- The Honorable Judge Jon Gordon - September 2005 (Emphasis added)
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