Mortgagor’s Remedy For Servicer’s Robo-signing Is Limited To The Remedies Available In The Foreclosure Not An Independent Claim Against The Servicer

The U.S. District Court in Maine dismissed claims from homeowners seeking damages against a servicer for improper foreclosure. In _Bradbury v. GMAC Mortg., LLC,_ CIV. 10-458-P-H (D. Me. Feb. 16, 2011) the mortgagor filed a class action suit against the servicer after reports that the serivicer’s employees were found to be signing foreclosure affidavits without reviewing documentation as required by law. The District Court dismissed three of the four claims. With regards to the abuse of process claims – arising from the false certifications and affidavits – the court ruled that according to Maine law, even if the documents were false, does not give the plaintiff a claim for abuse of process but merely to seek to reverse the previous judgment in the foreclosure case. Their use in the state court proceedings not satisfy the improper use requirement of Maine law on abuse of process. Rather, they were used to win the foreclosure lawsuits, and that is a proper use of such documents. The court observed that ”[a] contrary ruling would mean that the outcome of every lawsuit could produce a later lawsuit by the unhappy loser, seeking damages on account of the outcome of the former lawsuit and claiming that it resulted from false testimony or false affidavits.” The court also dismissed the claims for breach of good faith and fair dealing and alleged fraud upon the court. The court said that fraud on the court may be grounds for other sanctions such as, again, obtaining relief from the original judgment in the foreclosure case but not to recover damages by a party in a later lawsuit.