Smith v Dorchester, 732 F.3d 51 (1st Cir. October 15, 2013) is an appeal from a verdict arising out of a fraudulent real estate mortgage scheme where a nearly incompetent person was duped into acting as a straw buyer for two overvalued residential properties in Massachusetts. One of the defendants,…
Read More »In Diunugala v JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., 12CV2106-WQH-NLS (S.D. Cal. Oct. 3, 2013) the mortgagor sued the loan assignee(s) and the servicer under a host of theories. The servicer had previously represented that one banking entity was the owner/creditor of Plaintiff’s loan as trustee for a securitized trust, but…
Read More »In M & M Inv. Group, LLC v Ahlemeyer Farms, Inc., No. 03S04-1211-CC-645 (Ind. September 26, 2013), a tax-sale purchaser of mortgaged property filed a petition for issuance of a tax deed. Current Indiana law does not require the county auditor to mail notice of the pending sale to the…
Read More »The mortgagors in National City Mortgage Co. v. Tidwell, S12G2011 (Ga. Oct. 7, 2013) brought claims against the mortgagee for wrongful foreclosure. While the case was pending the mortgagee merged with another bank which was not substituted as a party. The Superior Court entered summary judgment for the mortgagors and…
Read More »The U.S. District for the Northern District of Illinois granted the Federal Housing Financing Agency’s (FHFA), motion for summary judgment against the City of Chicago in Federal Housing Financial Agency v. City of Chicago, 11 C 8795. (N.D. Ill. Aug. 23, 2013). FHFA brought the suit on its own behalf…
Read More »The federal Truth in Savings Act (TISA) 12 U.S.C. § 4301 et seq. regulates banks’ disclosures to customers. Until 1996, TISA allowed civil damages to be sought for failure to comply with its requirements but the provision authorizing lawsuits (section 4310) was repealed in 1996, effective September 2001. The issue…
Read More »In Bank of America, N.A. v. Land, 2013 IL App (5th) 120283 (July 31, 2013), the Illinois appellate court affirmed an order of summary judgment for a bank in a mortgage foreclosure action. At issue in that case was the admissibility of the affidavit of the bank’s assistant vice president.…
Read More »After the title insurer in Chicago Title Ins. v. Aurora Loan Services, LLC, 2013 IL App (1st) 123510 (Aug. 31. 2013) paid its insured the the policy limit and appraised value of the property that was lost to a tax deed, it filed suit against the seller who acquired its…
Read More »Ellis v. J.P Morgan Chase Co., 12 CV 03897 (N.D. Cal., June 13, 2013), involves a class action against a mortgage loan servicer raising claims of unfair or deceptive business practice, unjust enrichment, fraud and RICO. Plaintiffs alleged that the servicer marked-up fees that were charged by the servicers without…
Read More »The plaintiff- mortgagor in Badrawi v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc., 718 F.3d 756 (8th Cir. 2013) sued to invalidate a foreclosure proceeding claiming, among other things, that the mortgagee failed to comply with Minnesota’s requirements for foreclosure by advertisement when it published and recorded the notice of foreclosure on…
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