Bank successfully appealed a trial court’s order involuntarily dismissing its foreclosure with prejudice on the grounds that the successor servicer could not rely on the business records of prior servicers to prove-up the bank’s claim at trial. In reaching its conclusion, the appellate court in Bank of New York v.…
Read More »An Illinois appellate court recently held that a provision of the Illinois Probate Act (Act) relating to the disposition of a deceased mortgagor’s real estate trumps the state foreclosure law. The executor in In re Estate of LaPlume, 2014 IL App (2d) 130945 (Dec. 4, 2014) petitioned to sell the…
Read More »If the security instruments collateralizing a troubled account contain minor mistakes the lender is at serious risk of losing its right of enforcement if the debtor files bankruptcy. In re Duckworth, Nos. 14-1561 & 14-1650 Cons. (November 21, 2014) the Seventh Circuit reversed a decision by the district and bankruptcy…
Read More »A retroactive application of New Jersey law setting a time limit to enforce mortgage defaults resulted in a free house for the mortgagor In re Washington, No. 14-14573-TBA, (Bankr. D.N.J. Nov. 5, 2014). [W]ith figurative hand holding the nose a New Jersey Bankruptcy court granted a debtor’s motion for summary…
Read More »The debtor in In re Hernandez, No. 12-37496 (Bankr. S.D. Tex. Nov. 6, 2014) received a discharge in a chapter 7 bankruptcy but his servicer continued to send him monthly statements asking for payment on the loan. After debtor’s counsel sent several cease and desist letters, the servicer wrote that…
Read More »The Seventh Circuit recently held that a federal court does not lose jurisdiction where the defendant offers the individual plaintiff in an FDCPA class action more than she could hope to recover in her individual claim. In Smith v. Greystone Alliance, LLC, No. 14-1758 (7th Cir. Nov. 13, 2014) the…
Read More »In Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, v. Chicago Title Insurance Company v. Western Capital Partners LLC, Nos. 12-2525, 12-2612 & 12-2691 (7th Cir. November 13, 2014) the issue was whether complete defense rule requires a title insurer to defend all claims or causes of action brought against its insured. The matter…
Read More »The underlying bankruptcy proceedings in In re Thompson, No. 05-28262-SVK, (Bankr. E.D. Wis. Oct. 21, 2014) culminated in the disallowance of the mortgagee’s proof of claim after the mortgagee failed to establish that it was the holder of the mortgage note. Affirming the decision to disallow the claim the district…
Read More »Although the mortgagors did not argue that the servicer in the foreclosure action committed consumer fraud when it submitted an affidavit that MERS had assigned not only the mortgage, but also the note in which MERS had no interest, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in _In Re: Residential Capital, LLC_, No.…
Read More »In Commerce Bank v. West Bend Mut. Ins. Co., A14-0247 (Minn. Ct. App. Sept. 22, 2014) the mortgagee brought suit under a general liability insurance policy for damages from vandalism. The policy provided that if the insurer denied the insured’s claim due to its misfeasance or failure to comply with…
Read More »