The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC") has held that a bank's failure to comply with post-foreclosure notice provisions in Mass. G.L. c. 244, § 15A ("Section 15A"), does not render a foreclosure void. Turra v. Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, 476 Mass....
Foreclosure
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rejects Challenge To Attorney’s Authority To Conduct Foreclosure Activities For Client Without Written Authorization
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the "SJC) has rejected a challenge to the authority of an attorney to conduct foreclosure activities on behalf of clients without specific written authorization to perform those activities. See Federal National Mortgage...
U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Underwater Mortgages Cannot Be “Stripped Off”
While the American economy has shown tentative signs of stabilization and recovery, the nation's courts continue to grapple with legal questions that emanate from the Great Recession and the bursting of the so-called "housing bubble." In one notable development, the...
Foreclosure Is Not Debt Collection Under the FDCPA in the 11th Circuit
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida has issued an opinion collecting 11th Circuit precedent and reiterating that foreclosure or other enforcement of a security interest, without more, is not "collection of any debt" under the Fair Debt...
SJC Interprets and Upholds ‘Obsolete Mortgage’ Statute
Where a mortgage states the term of its underlying debt but includes no separate statement of its own term, the two are one-and-the-same, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the "SJC") has decided in an opinion interpreting and upholding the so-called "obsolete...
Fremont Investment’s Mortgage Foreclosure Injunction Not Retroactive
A Massachusetts Superior Court judge has held that the 2008 injunction against foreclosure of certain Fremont Investment & Loan ("Fremont") mortgages did not apply to Fremont mortgages assigned to third parties prior to the entry of the injunction. Moronta v....
Right-to-Cure Notice Naming Mortgage Servicer Deemed Effective
Naming a mortgage servicer as mortgagee on a statutory right-to-cure notice satisfies the requirements of the Commonwealth's pre-foreclosure right-to-cure statute, according to a recent decision of the Appeals Court. In Haskins v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co, 86...
First Circuit Affirms Culhane, Woods, and MERS Assignments of Mortgages
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has reaffirmed its prior holdings in Culhane v Aurora Loan Services of Nebraska, 708 F.3d 282 (1st Cir. 2013) and Woods v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 733 F.3d 349 (1st Cir. 2013) regarding Mortgage Electronic...
Contemporaneous Evidence of Off-Record Assignments Satisfies Ibanez
The Massachusetts Land Court division of the Trial Court has affirmed that contemporaneous evidence of off-record assignments are adequate to satisfy the requirements of U.S. Bank N.A. v. Ibanez, 458 Mass. 637 (2011). In May, 2006, Lisardo Murillo acquired a property...
First Circuit Finds No Private Right of Action Under HAMP
The First Circuit has affirmed a holding finding that no private right of action exists for homeowner-borrowers under the Home Affordable Modification Program ("HAMP"), bringing clarity on this issue to courts within the Circuit. In the underlying mater, Mackenzie v....
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