Homeowners in foreclosure may have a better chance of getting a true trial, instead of a quickie judgment, following a 4th District Court of Appeal decision that requires banks to prove ownership of the note at the time they file for repossession.
The ruling Wednesday in Palm Beach County was heralded by foreclosure defense attorneys who said it may even force banks to dismiss some cases and start over with new paperwork.
Tom Ice, founder of the Royal Palm Beach-based foreclosure defense firm Ice Legal, called the decision a "sea change" in the way courts are looking at foreclosure cases and the importance of assignments of mortgage.
"No longer can banks just walk in and have their attorney wave around a piece of paper saying this is the note," Ice said. "The good news for homeowners is now they have an opportunity to prove their case and get a trial on its merits."
Fuck You Pam Bondi. Fuck You Tom Miller. Fuck You Eric Holder. Fuck You Tim Geithner. Fuck You Bank of America, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Chase, and all the rest.
Take me to Guantanamo now, I'll go happily. The Rule Of Law is Alive and Well in Florida.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/...
Full decision right here:
http://www.4dca.org/...
4D10-3429-Robert McLean v. JP Morgan Chase Bank National Association
Any legal scholars working late that can add some info in the comments are welcome, have to crash for an early appointment..
Update.. thanks for the recs and comments. There is some criticism included that in fact this decision might not be as huge a victory as first indicated, but it does give hope that banks can't just shit on homeowners without the ability to prove they have the documentation required by centuries of real estate law. Hope is in short supply these days, so I also wish to refer you to two other articles that crossed my path this morning, one by Matt Stoller, former aide to Alan Grayson, via Politico; the other by Professor Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, via Yves Smith's Naked Capitalism
Matt Stoller:
Bubbling under the surface of politics is the foreclosure crisis — where the power of big finance is brushing up against the rule of law. The party leaders seem to have decided it is essentially a giant — but unavoidable — tragedy. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said foreclosures have to clear for the housing market to reset. The Obama administration, meanwhile, has spent only about $2 billion of the $75 billion authorized for the Home Affordable Modification Program.
But the foreclosure crisis is not only a few million personal tragedies. It is a few million crime scenes.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley recently filed the first broad civil suit against five major banks and the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems for foreclosure fraud. Her suit alleges that mortgage servicers routinely backdated and falsified documents to expedite foreclosures. In many cases, they foreclosed on loans they did not even own.
This is one of a series of suits that state officials are bringing against leading financial institutions. Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto last month indicted two employees of the foreclosure specialist Lender Processing Services, which works with the big banks, on 606 felony and misdemeanor counts of fraud.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/...
Sixty Minutes’ December 11, 2011 interview of President Obama included a claim by Obama that, unfortunately, did not lead the interviewer to ask the obvious, essential follow-up questions.
I can tell you, just from 40,000 feet, that some of the most damaging behavior on Wall Street, in some cases, some of the least ethical behavior on Wall Street, wasn’t illegal.
Obama did not explain what Wall Street behavior he found least ethical or what unethical Wall Street actions he believed was not illegal. It would have done the world (and Obama) a great service had he been asked these questions. He would not have given a coherent answer because his thinking on these issues has never been coherent. If he had to explain his position he, and the public, would recognize it was indefensible.
I offer the following scale of unethical banker behavior related to fraudulent mortgages and mortgage paper (principally collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)) that is illegal and deserved punishment. I write to prompt the rigorous analytical discussion that is essential to expose and end Obama and Bush’s “Presidential Amnesty for Contributors” (PAC) doctrine. The financial industry is the leading campaign contributor to both parties and those contributions come overwhelmingly from the wealthiest officers – the one-tenth of one percent that thrives by being parasites on the 99 percent.
I have explained at length in my blogs and articles why:
• Only fraudulent home lenders made liar’s loans
• Liar’s loans were endemically fraudulent
• Lenders and their agents put the lies in liar’s loans
• Appraisal fraud was endemic and led by lenders and their agents
• Liar’s loans could only be sold through fraudulent reps and warranties
• CDOs “backed” by liar’s loans were inherently fraudulent
• CDOs backed by liar’s loans could only be sold through fraudulent reps and warranties
• Liar’s loans hyper-inflated the bubble
• Liar’s loans became roughly one-third of mortgage originations by 2006
read the rest here: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/...
Update #2:
and then you get these stories... more evidence of toothless gumming of perps instead of perp walks: breaking from Reuters
NEW YORK - Securities regulators sued former top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Friday, saying they misled investors over exposure to risky mortgages.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued three former executives at Fannie Mae and three at Freddie Mac, including former chief executives of both companies. The civil charges were filed in two separate lawsuits.
The SEC said both firms have agreed to cooperate with the agency and have entered into non-prosecution agreements.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been propped up by about $169 billion in federal aid since they were rescued by the government in 2008.
