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Chase bank being sued by Ohio woman claiming violation of mortgage law
In one of the first cases of its kind in Ohio, a woman is suing JPMorgan Chase for allegedly violating a new law aimed at protecting home owners.
Foreclosed on, Irregularly, After 74 Years
An elderly, disabled woman lost to an illegal foreclosure the home she has lived in for 74 years, after Texas-based Reverse Mortgage Solutions and Fannie Mae "accelerated" her loan balance.
This case will really shake things up
"No one thought the banks could be beaten. This award is a huge step in the right direction to help us continue to punish the banks for violations against millions of California homeowners."
Man awarded millions in mortgage modification fraud case
"You people have been taking advantage of enough people and the country's tired of it. I mean, society's tired of it," Linza said.
Law Enforcement Raids Law Firm
Accused Of Scamming Desperate Homeowners
Many of the cases filed by the Hoffman Law Group had been withdrawn, or tossed out of court by irate judges who said they lacked the most basic elements of valid legal challenges.
How much is your case worth?
Jury awards $16 million in mortgage case
It started out as a simple loan modification for a troubled homeowner. The 3 year battle turned into a $16.2 million jury verdict against PHH Mortgage. The award included $514,000 in compensatory damages and $15.7 million in punitive damages.
"The affidavit fails to establish the chain of title to U.S. Bank
as a matter of law.".
Trimm v. U.S.Bank
We overrule the Trimms’ sixth issue. Having sustained all of the Trimms’ remaining issues, we reverse the trial court’s summary judgment and remand.
Deutsche Bank's case falls to pieces.
Key witness knows nothing.
Deutsche Bank v. Harrison
The witness admitted Ocwen had no involvement in the mortgage loan whatsoever for the first nine (9) years of the loan since 2004. She testified she had no knowledge of the prior servicer's business records as she had never worked for them. The court finds that there was a break in the chain of assignments of mortgage contained in the court file.
They should be herding foreclosure lawyers into cattle trailers soon
Lawyer Indicted for Lying to a Cobb County Judge
An Atlanta lawyer has been indicted for making false statements and presenting forged documents to a Cobb County judge.
A Cobb County grand jury has indicted attorney James Alan Langlais on three counts of false statements, two counts of false writings, two counts of forgery and one count of theft by deception. The theft charge is for taking money from clients for legal services he allegedly didn't perform.
Former A.G., law firm deny he got post for his
foreclosure case decision.
Charges tie Shurtleff job interview to Bank of America deal
By agreeing at the end of 2012 to dismiss the federal lawsuit against Bank of America, Shurtleff scuttled what attorneys in his own office believed was the strongest case that the bank’s foreclosure arm, ReconTrust, had been illegally foreclosing on thousands of Utah homes. One estimate put the possible loss to Utah homeowners from the dismissal at tens of millions of dollars.
While on the topic of Foreclosure-Mills...
Hanna Law Firm Faces Suit from Consumer Group
Over Debt Collection Tactics
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing to permanently bar the firm and three of its attorneys from engaging in a massive debt-collection business. The Hanna firm uses "high-volume litigation tactics" to collect millions of dollars each year, often from consumers "who may not actually owe debts or may not owe debts in the amounts claimed," bureau attorneys charged in the suit.
Did the Other Shoe Just Drop?
Big Banks Hit with Monster $250 Billion Lawsuit
in Housing Crisis Ellen Brown, JD
That is the equivalent of one million homeowners with $250,000 in damages suing at one time.
For years, homeowners have been battling Wall Street in an attempt to recover some portion of their massive losses from the housing Ponzi scheme. But progress has been slow, as they have been outgunned and out-spent by the banking titans.
Hot Off The Presses:
California Court REVERSES Merritt v. Bank of America
This is the multi-year case where the bank's lawyer physically assaulted the homeowner during a deposition. Countrywide's Angelo Mozilo and Bank of America's Ken Lewis are named defendants.
Complaint in:
State of Colorado vs. Foreclosure-Mills
TARGET: Foreclosure-Mills
AG SUES STATE'S LARGEST FORECLOSURE LAW FIRMS ALLEGING MASSIVE FRAUD
Colorado's largest foreclosure law firms — The Castle Law Group and Aronowitz & Mecklenburg — were slapped with massive civil lawsuits by AG investigators. Lawyers operated a multi-million-dollar scheme that defrauded tens of thousands of homeowners.
It's unclear how far the reverberations from the Colorado cases will be felt, but several of the illegal practices alleged in the lawsuits are widespread across the foreclosure industry nationwide.
Foreclosure Judgment and Sale VACATED
First Mortgage Company v. Dina
Plaintiff was not a licensed lender under the Residential Mortgage License Act, and the mortgage was therefore unenforceable and void as a matter of public policy.
"I am not guilty of anything. Never missed any payment in 20+ years."
Pro Se HOMEOWNER VICTORY IN MICHIGAN
Michigan homeowner KathyJo Torrenga faced eviction from her family home by the “foreclosure Death Star” of Republican Congressional candidate Dave Trott. I believe she (the judge) began to sympathize a little bit when I told her that my own daughter moved out due to the constant harassment and one physical assault.
Courts Finally Waking Up to Bogus Allonges and “Ta Dah” Foreclosure Documents
Here, the amusing but depressingly common issue was not only did US Bank submit new documents (in this case, the usual “ta dah” allonge) but they didn’t do it correctly, as in the doctored documents were undated and thus failed to establish that US Bank had the right to foreclose when it started foreclosure proceedings.
US Bank v. LaFrance
Lawless OCWEN!
How many of these stories are we going to hear before someone is hauled off to jail?
Jackson woman endures Nightmare of Mistaken Foreclosure
“It’s really one of the most outrageous, over-the-top, unbelievable things I’ve seen,” said Jeff Lookabaugh, one of Novelli’s four attorneys. “Her computer was on. They even went through her underwear drawer.” At one point, police told Altisource to leave and not to return or they were the ones who’d face trespassing charges. “The officer told me he’d never seen anything like this in 19 years."
Join the Protest Against Home Theft
Professor Wray: It is not an overstatement to say that the Global Financial Crisis would not have happened without MERS. MERS was absolutely essential to the “efficient” securitization model that led up to the crisis. It is all illegal. There was never any law that permitted the industry to create MERS to evade US property law (and to avoid paying recording fees in local jurisdictions).
Do Homeowners Stand a Chance
Against the MLK Judicial Express?
Alexander Hamilton observed the judicial branch is not supposed to take its direction from “either the strength or the wealth of society,” The Federalist No. 78 (Alexander Hamilton), but in all cases apply the rule of law equally. Citizens must trust the courts to fairly apply the law to the facts before them in deciding cases. This expectation cannot be met when the system is rigged to prevent borrowers access to discovery.”
In his amended and supplemented complaint, Plaintiff alleged ” MERS, MERSCORP and MERS Members, acting as parties to a MERS Nonjudicial Foreclosure System proceeding, routinely record false and fraudulent documents in Washington’s public record and courts.” Plaintiff identified several of the false documents which had been filed with regard to his own note and deed of trust. Included among those identified was BANA’s alleged assignment of the deed of trust based on MERS ownership of the note.
Wis. Supreme Court rules on Equitable Assignment
Dow Family v. PHH Mortgage
The mortgage is recorded, with MERS as the mortgagee. Under the traditional view of equitable assignment, naming MERS as the mortgagee separates the mortgage from the promissory note and may cause the note to become unsecured.The issue of whether PHH has the necessary documents to enforce the note in question was not appealed and must be determined by the circuit court.
NM Court of Appeals VACATES Judgment of Foreclosure
Deutsche Bank v. Johnson
At trial, twenty months after the complaint for foreclosure was filed, the Bank produced a note that was significantly different from the one attached to its complaint. The Bank argued that its production of the note bearing an undated indorsement in blank at trial was sufficient to establish its right to enforce the note. Court disagreed.
Rolling Rebellion, Lawyers and Citizens Protest
Seattle Bankster UCC Uniform Law Conference
Why is the ULC conference so important? The hand selected chums on the ULC committee are trying to decide how they can best push through a national (federalized) mortgage loan registry system, like MERS – that hasn’t worked so well over the past 15 years. What they’d like to do is white-wash all of the fraudulent land records – and forgive the crooks for their bad acts. And by doing so, the national land registry becomes just that – a federally owned system making it easier to grab land and take away state’s rights.
It is very important to send this message out
as far and wide as possible.
Just announced: The House Financial Services Committee has announced that a hearing is planned for Thursday on legislation to reform the Federal Reserve. Jeb Hensarling is the Committee Chair and his phone number is 202-225-3484 and fax is 202-226-4888.
This maybe an opportunity for the people to rise up and let Congress know how important this matter is.
It is also noteworthy that this morning it was announced that all the central banks have determined that "transparency" is not working for them, and that they are going back to a more opague way of operating.
Neighboring counties join Beaufort County in suing MERS
The counties contend the system hides who owns loans, often by listing only MERS as the owner, not a specific member bank or service. That constitutes fraud and undermines the county’s property-ownership records, which state law requires to list the exact owner of a property’s title, county attorney Josh Gruber said. In extreme circumstances, that could mean homeowners are left in the dark about who owns their loans and would have no public records to turn to try to defend their homes against foreclosure, Gruber said.
Bank has the Note, but the Opinion counts the many reasons the Judgment of Foreclosure is Vacated.
Bank of America v. Greenleaf
In short, the record demonstrates a series of assignments of the right to record the mortgage as nominee, but no more. In the absence of any evidence that the Bank owned Greenleaf’s mortgage, we conclude that the Bank lacked standing to seek foreclosure on the mortgage and accompanying note. We vacate the foreclosure judgment on this basis.
The way for regulators to hit a bank where it hurts:
A BAN FROM THE MARKETS!
Imagine if a bank that wrongfully foreclosed on hundreds of homeowners could not issue mortgages for a year.
All the biggest culprits would have died years ago.
US Bank to pay $200m for Ripping-Off Homeowners/Taxpayers
US Bank violated federal law and not only wasted taxpayer funds, but inflicted harm on homeowners and the housing market that lasts to this day,” said Stuart F. Delery, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department.
JPMorgan Chase Caught Falsifying Ownership Documents
Homeowner Quiet Title and Award of $255,000 in Attorney Fees Upheld on Appeal
The judgment stated that the Kalickis owned the property and quieted title in their favor. It also found that Chase had executed and recorded false documentation purporting to transfer ownership of the Kalickis' mortgage to Chase and that a Chase executive created a document in which Chase fraudulently represented that a prior assignment had been lost and that Chase owned the Kalickis' mortgage. The judgment voided the fraudulent documents and enjoined Chase from recording any false or misleading documents representing that it owned the Kalickis' mortgage.
Montgomery County Register of Deeds Beats MERS!
Montgomery County, PA v. MERS
Throughout the process, Ms. McDonnell found that there were five missing assignments that should have been recorded with the Montgomery County Recorder of Deeds; that the MERS Milestones data was incomplete and in contradiction to the securitization deal documents, and that title to the property had been corrupted by MERS’ failure to record a complete chain of title.
Memorandum and Order
They still don't have their home back, but the Thomas family is encouraged now that two government officials in Washington, D.C. are looking into the alleged fraudulent foreclosure
Family meets with leaders in Washington about foreclosure
When Christy Thomas told Fannie that she was meeting with the elected officials, Fannie's representative told her, “If you go this route, then you more than likely will not get your home back.” “U.S. Rep. Meadows said he would get involved with that right away. He doesn't want anyone to feel that they can't go to a government official.”
They want to make assignments unnecessary!
Legalizing Mortgage Theft? ULC’s Paper to Electronic Home Foreclosure Procedures Act
“If the HFPA proposal becomes law, it will make the theft of real estate in America as easy as pushing a button,” said forensic mortgage analyst and certified fraud examiner Marie McDonnell of McDonnell Analytics.
Homeowners' SuperPAC commercial
"Our Courts should not be collection agencies for Crooks."
BANK MAGIC:
SUDDENLY APPEARING ENDORSEMENTS USED BY BANK-TRUSTEES IN FORECLOSURES
This article discusses 42 cases with suddenly appearing (often called “ta-da”) endorsements. In each case, a bank-trustee tried to foreclose on behalf of a mortgage-backed trust. Most of these cases began with the filing of an unendorsed note that was described in the bank’s pleadings as a true and correct copy of the original note. In a few cases, the judges expressed their disbelief and frustration with the documents presented by the banks and the claims made.
Mediation/Modification Scam
Borrowers Have “Been Through Hell”
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court issued an opinion that makes you question the sanity of the servicing industry and the efficacy of the rule of law.
US Bank v. Sawyer
"If banks and mortgage servicers intend to do business in Maine and use our courts to foreclose on delinquent borrowers, they must respect and follow our rules and procedures."
Wells Fargo Smacked Down Over Bad Faith Arguments
It has taken years, but some judges are starting to realize that "billions in fines - for trillions in crimes" will never break the habits of the crime-addict. What is needed are real criminal prosecutors. Our thanks to S. C. Federal Judge Joseph Anderson.
Harlin v. Wells Fargo
Bank of America Affidavit Template Fails
Bank of America v. Loya
Bank of America uses a template for affidavits submitted in illegal foreclosure proceedings by various law firms around the country.
In this case, the court describes why both affidavits failed, writing: "A question remains, however, as to whether either Ms. Bradley or Ms. Littlejohn had the knowledge necessary to make the foregoing statements.
We must conclude that Bank of America failed to establish that it was the holder of his note at the time that it filed suit against him. As such, Bank of America was not entitled to summary judgment."
Suit says banks owe as much as $500 million for false FHA claims
Banks and Mortgage Servicers that made phony Federal Housing Administration insurance claims to the feds could owe as much as $500 million in penalties and damages — for New York State alone.“Essentially HUD is paying for documents to defraud itself, is our claim,” Szymoniak told The Post. Szymoniak’s attorney Reuben Guttman of Grant & Eisenhofer said: “Here banks en masse used phony documents to procure insurance money from the federal government, and should be penalized heavily.”
Another Appeals Court Approves 2nd Mortgage Stripping in Chapter 20 Cases
The U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, ruled that in a chapter 13 case filed within four years of a previous chapter 7 case (a so-called "Chapter 20"), the chapter 13 plan could strip a completely unsecured junior mortgage. In such chapter 13 plans, the junior mortgage is eliminated and never has to be paid back.
Wells Fargo v. Scantling
Unendorsed Notes Used by Bank of New York in Foreclosures
In nearly 80% of the cases, Bank of New York used unendorsed notes, and an unsupported allegation that it had the right to foreclose for mortgage-backed trusts.
SunTrust to Pay Nearly $1B Over Foreclosures,
Mortgage Practices
The settlement resolves civil claims arising after multiple investigations revealed that SunTrust allegedly robo-signed mortgage documents and illegally foreclosed on consumers.
The DOJ, who couldn't put handcuffs on a chain-link fence gets $418 million? The government, who shoveled trillions of dollars away from the 99% and gave it to its criminal friends who created a global crisis gets $10 million for participating in fraud and conspiracy against the American public? The VICTIM, who without them, none of this would have been possible; who had it proven that their house was taken ILLEGALLY (grand theft, forgery, fraud, armed robbery, wire/mail fraud, etc.); had their lives ruined, marriages broken, kids pulled out of schools and away from their friends, and suicides caused by this overwhelming amount of criminal activity get $833.00. The number of prosecutions for these confessed crimes? ZERO!
Repeated Foreclosures on an On-Time Borrower
The homeowner received a letter from Wachovia Bank in late 2008 saying he was in arrears by over $4900 and the bank intended to foreclose. Nine days later, the bank sent a past due notice demanding $2300. This was troubling since Bentrim had made his payments in full, on time. Wachovia initiated a foreclosure in 2009. The case was eventually dismissed in 2010, since Wells Fargo, which acquired Wachovia, failed to produce an expert witness to substantiate that the bank’s principal and interest calculations were accurate. Nevertheless, Wachovia and then Wells Fargo continued to charge interest on the loan at a penalty rate of 27.34%, resulting in over $25,000 of additional charges. Less than a week after having its foreclosure case dismissed, Wells sent a letter urging Bentrim “act now to save your home” by taking loan modification (presumably to pick up the extra interest), and sent another letter urging him to take a modification six weeks later. Around this time, Wells Fargo also force placed a $250,000 insurance policy on Bentrim’s house!
Fourth case reopened after Center uncovers
judicial conflict of interest
New panel of judges reaches same conclusion in Maryland foreclosure case
The Center for Public Integrity identified the conflict while reporting its months-long “Juris Imprudence” investigation, which found 26 examples since 2010 where federal appellate judges ruled on cases in which they had a financial conflict. By law, judges cannot own even a single share of stock in companies that come before them.
Ocwen to Pay $3.7 Million to Settle
Massachusetts Illegal Foreclosure Claims
“Massachusetts homeowners faced unnecessary challenges due to these companies’ failure to provide proper notices and by initiating illegal foreclosures,” Coakley said. “This agreement provides for direct relief for affected borrowers and requires that Ocwen undertake efforts to repair problem titles.” (How will they do that?)
The loans within the securitizations are worthless.
Predators Still Fattening on Prey
Mortgage modification programs, including HAMP, were abysmal failures. At the time, mortgage servicers were selling loans for 3-6 cents on the dollar. Why do banks and trustees pretend the loans have value? If banks and lenders foreclosed, it would reveal the taxes, cost to maintain the property, and the legal costs relative to the value of the property meant that they had negative equity.
Breaking The Code: Oklahoma Judges And Misconduct
Judges are charged with making some of life's most important decisions. That's why we hold them to such high standards. But what recourse do Oklahomans have when they violate those standards? In the past it's been very difficult to hold Oklahoma judges accountable, but changes are on the horizon.
Tables are turned for foreclosure-mill law firm
A foreclosure-mill firm that profited for years by helping banks illegally foreclose on Massachusetts homeowners is learning what it feels like to be on the receiving end of the boot. The CFO's checkered past going back decades that should have raised red flags, involved a tangled web of intrigue, fraud, self-dealing, giving a sham promissory note, fraud and plundering.
9th Circuit remands MDL dismissal of MERS claims for robosigning
Great news out of the 9th circuit. The 9th circuit remanded the Multi-District Litigation/Judge Teilborg dismissals concerning the formation of MERS and the filing of fraudulent and robosigned documents. The appeal in Stauffer assisted this decision.
Worth watching again.
A women who lost her house due to the mortgage crisis, and her bank screwing her over by refusing to work something out, makes a statement by robbing her bank.
Robo-signors ORION FINANCIAL GROUP
It's not criminal forgery or false statements on fabricated documents to steal homes - it's called Document Retrieval
SCAM ALERT - SCAM ALERT - SCAM ALERT
Lawyers Are Now The Driving Force Behind Mortgage Scams
From the very first day she was allowed to speak with clients at her new law firm job at The Hoffman Law Group, Michele Stephens wondered if she was doing something unethical. By the time she quit, nearly a year later, she no longer had any doubt about it. “I was told to lie again and again,” she said. Stephens maintains the operation at Hoffman Law was a fraud from the outset.
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