Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Gulfport man tries to kill himself as bank forecloses on his home

Editor's Note: This isn't just another sad story of someone loosing their home to the thieving banks, this is your neighbor, your brother, sister, parents, best friend. This is the type of stress the media normally doesn't write about, but it happens everyday in all parts of the country, not just Florida. People are fighting for, in many cases, not only their homes, but their lives. They are loosing not only their homes, but their jobs, their marriages, and now their lives.

When does this stop? When, or how do we give some HOPE to these persons, whom feel they are all alone in this fight? The fraudulent practices of these big banks are all over the news, in the court rooms, foreclosure mills are being called out of false documents, but where is the justice? Ladies and gentlemen I implore you to take a few minutes out of your daily lives and write your state Senators, your state Attorney Generals (all 50 state AG contacts listed in this blog). Let these persons of our government, whom we put in office with our voice, via votes, understand that enough is enough.

These big banks, need to stop the fraudulent foreclosures, they need to modify the thousands of mortgages that they bleed every penny they can, then tell the persons they don't qualify because of missing paperwork (that the banks have conveniently lost on their own), help put this economy back on track that they so skillfully helped destroy.

This editor's note isn't just some person on a ban-wagon, I have proof of these accusations, those thieving banks have been trying to do the same to me and my family, for the past few years, hence the reason for this blog. To notify those out here that read this, they can be beat, but we need to stand together and fight. Remember: THE MASSES WILL BRING DOWN THE GIANTS!!!!

 

Gulfport man tries to kill himself as bank forecloses on his home

By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Thursday, November 18, 2010

A sheriff’s deputy and bank representative were taking possession of the home in Gulfport on Monday when they heard Rubright shoot himself. Foreclosure began two years ago.
A sheriff’s deputy and bank representative were taking possession of the home in Gulfport on Monday when they heard Rubright shoot himself. Foreclosure began two years ago.

[DIRK SHADD | Times]
GULFPORT — The foreclosure process started more than two years ago. Papers were served. Hearings held. Judges ruled. Back and forth it went, inexorably. Like millions across the nation, Boyd Rubright, 71, was slowly losing his home.

The writ of possession — the final document that strips someone of a foreclosed home — was signed Nov. 2. The occupant received 24 hours' notice. Then, ready or not, he had to go.

Monday was the day.
The bank representative was the first to arrive at 5840 Gulfport Blvd. S. It's the white house with the green trim and the empty birdbath.The house looked vacant, but the representative thought he saw someone inside. A deputy arrived, and knocked on the front door. He announced himself from the outside, loudly.

No one answered.

The bank sent someone to drill through the lock. It was 9:02 a.m. when the drilling stopped. The busted lock hit the floor inside.That's when they heard the gunshot.

• • •

The deputy moved everyone away from the house and called for backup. Then he and a Gulfport officer went inside, weapons drawn.They found Rubright slumped in an armchair in a small room. Police said he placed the barrel of a .357-caliber revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

The officers couldn't find a pulse; paramedics were called.

His oldest daughter learned about the shooting when she talked to a St. Petersburg Times reporter Wednesday night.

"When the foreclosure started a couple of years ago, he told us that he was not giving up his house for anything," said Margaret Fitzgibbons, 44. "They would have to take him out or he'd kill himself. 

"That's why I wasn't surprised."

• • •

It's hard to find anyone who really knew Rubright. Everyone knew a piece of the man. But not the whole.
He was married and divorced three times. His last marriage ended in 2007. He has three daughters and a son from the first two. The son and a daughter want nothing to do with him.

The other two daughters tried to reconnect with their father. Fitzgibbons, who lives in New York, wanted her three children to know their grandfather.It hasn't been easy. Depressed. Difficult. Disconnected. That's how the oldest daughter described her estranged father. They didn't meet until she was 14.

Rubright spent two decades working at Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish. He left three years ago. He either quit, was fired, or retired, depending on whom you ask.His health was failing, but he kept checking himself out of the hospital. He lived on Social Security and couldn't afford the house payments anymore.

As foreclosure loomed, Fitzgibbons said she and her half sister asked Rubright to come back to New York to live with them.He refused. He had been in that house for two decades.He threatened to take his own life. His daughters didn't know what to do.

"He didn't want to leave his home," she said. "He said if he left his home he couldn't keep his guns and smoke his pot."

• • •

Mental health issues. Substance abuse. Stress. Hopelessness. Withdrawing from loved ones and friends. Mood swings. Rage. All classic warning signs of suicide.

Suicides hit a 12-year high in Florida in 2008, when 2,723 people took their own lives, according to the state. Pinellas County also had a record that year, with 177 suicides.

Is Florida's sour economy and unending housing crisis to blame? The cause of suicide is always greater than a single problem. But the economy has definitely become a factor.

"Dangerous times are times of transition," said Senta Goudy, director of the Florida Statewide Office of Suicide Prevention. "It's the loss of a spouse, the loss of a home, the loss of a job. Those are the times when a person is most at risk.

"They don't have the support network they need. They don't have a place to talk to somebody when they lose hope."

Pinellas sheriff's deputies evict people in landlord-tenant disputes and foreclosures about 300 times a month in the county. 

It's rare for someone to still be living there by that point. Sgt. Richard North oversees the court processing unit, which always seems to be delivering bad news: witness subpoenas, foreclosures, evictions, domestic violence injunctions.

While rare, Rubright isn't the first person to try to take his own life in the moment they must face leaving their home.North has seen it a handful of times in the last 10 years.

It almost happened last month. A 42-year-old Clearwater man who was being evicted in a family dispute tried to hang himself. The deputy forced his way inside and pulled the man down from the belt tied around his neck.
"He saved his life," North said.The man told the deputy he didn't have anywhere to go.

• • •

Paramedics arrived at 5840 Gulfport Blvd. S just minutes after the gunshot. When they checked Rubright, they were able to find a pulse.They rushed him to Bayfront Medical Center, where he has been in critical condition since Monday. Police believe the bullet may have missed his skull and instead went through his throat.

His prognosis is unknown. Rubright has not regained consciousness. But one of his few friends, 69-year-old Karla Kegerise, visited him Wednesday."I went down to pray with him and he looked good," she said.
His two daughters desperately want to fly down to visit him. But they can't afford it. Susan Rubright, 40, lost her job as an administrative assistant on Nov. 1. She has three children.

"They need us at the hospital," she said, crying on the phone from her home in New York. "We're his only next of kin, and they can't make any decisions without us."But we can't afford it at all. I can't even pay my rent."

Jamal Thalji can be reached at thalji@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.


Need help?
Anyone contemplating suicide can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline toll-free at 1-800-273-8255.
For more information about suicide online, go to www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org . If a suicide attempt is imminent, call 911.

The fraudulent documents are flying

Wisconsin Statutes, Chapter 134, 134.15 “Issuing and using what is not money; contracts void. (1)Any person who shall knowingly issue, pay out or pass, and any body corporate, or any officer, stock holder, director or agent thereof who shall issue, pay out or pass, or receive in this state as money or as an equivalent [...]
The fraudulent documents are flying.

Please forward your documentation to:

State of Wisconsin, Department of Justice
Nelle R. Rohlich, Asst. Attorney General
17 W. Main Street/P.O. Box 7857
Madison, WI 53707-7857
Phone 608-267-8901 Fax 608-267-2778

If you have a problem with a judge, try this:

Wisconsin Judicial Commission
110 E. Main Street, Suite 700
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-266-7637
Fax: 608-266-8647

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Man Makes Ridiculously Complicated Chart To Find Out Who Owns His Mortgage

Thu Nov 18, 10:09 am ET
 
We all know the mortgage securitization process is complicated.

But just how complicated? The chart below from Zero Hedge shows the convoluted journey a mortgage takes as it morphs into a security.

Dan Edstrom, of DTC Systems, who performs securitization audits, spent a year putting together a diagram that traces the path of his own house's mortgage. "Just When You Thought You Knew Something About Mortgage Securitizations," says Zero Hedge, you are presented with this almost hilariously complicated chart.

The controversy over allegedly shoddy paperwork has raised doubts about the legitimacy of foreclosures nationwide (a crisis illustrated here and here), eliciting lawsuits from homeowners and investors alike.

The Congressional Oversight Panel, a bailout watchdog, released a statement Tuesday that says the scandal over alleged "robo-signers," foreclosure processors who approve documents without reading them, "may have concealed much deeper problems" in the mortgage industry, HuffPost's Shahien Nasiripour reports. (See the most shocking robo-signer statements.)

Regulators will have their hands full.

Have a look at the complicated chart from Edstrom:

CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT PANEL GETS IT: WATCH VIDEO OF SEN KAUFMAN

I know we are all tied of waiting and the wheels of justice grind slowly. But here is a video showing that there are people in government that completely "get it."

PLAY VIDEO OF SEN KAUFMAN INTRODUCING REPORT

Deposition of Expert Witness (Lane Houk) in a Securitized Trust/Trustee Foreclosure Case

LH | November 12, 2010 

By Lane Houk
November 11, 2010

It took an Act of Congress to finally get a copy of my own deposition. Go figure… I was retained by an attorney and client in a New Jersey case to conduct a securitization analysis and investigation on this case and then quantify my opinion in an Affidavit. The Affidavit was filed in the instant case and the judge relied on my Affidavit in his ruling on the Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment – which he denied after carefully considering my opinion in the Affidavit.

The case was set for trial and the Plaintiff, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company (DBNTC) as Trustee For Argent Securities Inc. Series 2004-PW1, wanted to depose me, presumably, to get an idea of what they were going to have to deal with at trial in my testimony.

Here is the 62-Page Deposition taken by DBNTC and their attorney on September 17, 2010 in New York.

Here is the Affidavit filed in the instant case.

Mind you, this work was done by me back in early 2010. I have advanced considerably in my analyses and how I structure my Affidavits now versus how I used to structure them – with the gracious help of some of the attorneys I work with on a regular basis.

Here is a much more recent live sample of an Affidavit of Expert Opinion with all Exhibits recently filed in a Duval County, Jacksonville, FL case. One thing for sure… this work and the affidavit filed in a foreclosure case is successful almost 100% of the time in defeating summary judgment and getting to trial and advanced discovery phases. It also sets up a deposition(s) of corporate reps very nicely. There are so many issues of fact presented in my affidavits that a judge is going to have go rogue in a major way to still grant summary judgment.

If you would like more information on this, please feel free to contact me at 800-985-4685.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Sheriff of Cook County, IL - Refuses To Evict for Foreclosures

Email your thanks to Sheriff Tom Dart's office in Cook County, IL for standing up against criminal predator financial institutions! 

 
sheriff@cookcountysheriff.org
 Cook County Sheriff’s Office
50 W. Washington
Chicago, Illinois 60602
(312) 603-6444



Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Mind Blowing | Judge Schack Names Robo-Signers In Many Foreclosure Cases [GREATEST HITS]

After reviewing thousands of foreclosure cases, SFF brings to you the following cases found in which Judge Schack names many robo-signers we come to know of today. 

Schack’s SFF Greatest HitsThink we have any issues?             
What do you get when you cross a Mafia don with a bond salesman? A dealer in collateralized debt obligations (C.D.O.’s) — someone who makes you an offer you don’t understand.
-Paul Krugman, Just Say “AAA”, NY Times
ROSA C. LARA


TAMARA PRICE



CHRISTOPHER M. ZEIS



JOHN SHELLEY



ELY HARLESS



JEFF RIVAS


NICOLE GAZZO ESQ., Attorney of STEVEN J. BAUM PC/ CATHY MENCHISE


CATHY MENCHISE


BRYAN KUSICH




MARGERY ROTUNDO / SCOTT ANDERSON




SCOTT ANDERSON / JESSICA DYBAS


SCOTT ANDERSON


ALBERT FIORELLO


VICTOR F. PARISI


LEO S. ORTEGA, Jr.


KERI SELMAN


JOE LANNING


CHINA BROWN


ERICA JOHNSON SECK





If you haven’t got too tired of reading perhaps you would like to to check out SFF special  link below…

Monday, November 15, 2010

FBI Investigating Foreclosures


The foreclosure freeze has grabbed the attention of the FBI, who is now looking into whether banks and lending institutions broke any criminal laws during the crisis. 

The FBI says the investigation is only in the beginning stages, but that leads to a lot of questions.


Lenders disclose mortgage woes

By Suzanne Kapner in New York

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday disclosed further details about problems plaguing their mortgage servicing units.

JPMorgan said it was the subject of two lawsuits seeking class action status that accuse the bank of violating consumer fraud statutes related to its foreclosure practices.

The bank, along with other lenders, such as Bank of America, GMAC and Litton Loan Servicing – which is owned by Goldman Sachs – temporarily suspended foreclosures in October after finding that employees had approved court documents without checking their accuracy, as required by law. The problems have prompted an investigation by the attorneys-general of all 50 states.

Both JPMorgan and Goldman said in regulatory filings on Tuesday that they were co-operating with the attorneys-general investigation.

Goldman said it did not expect the suspension of evictions and foreclosures to “lead to a material increase in its mortgage servicing-related advances”.

It said that, as of September 30, its mortgage servicing rights were not large enough to have an impact on the overall firm.

Both banks face demands by investors to repurchase mortgages that failed to meet underwriting guidelines.
JPMorgan said its liabilities from such demands rose to $3.3bn at the end of the third quarter, against $2.3bn three months earlier.

Cambridge Place Investment Management and Charles Schwab have sued JPMorgan and other lenders over repurchase claims.

Goldman said that while there remained “significant uncertainty” surrounding such demands, its loss from repurchase requests had so far been “immaterial”.

Through the first nine months of 2010, Goldman repurchased less than $50m of such loans, far less than some of its competitors.

For instance, in 2005-08, Goldman sold about $10bn in loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-owned mortgage finance companies, and $11bn to private investors.

Over the same period, JPMorgan sold $380bn in loans to the government-owned entities and a further $450bn to private investors.

Factoring in loans sold to Fannie and Freddie by Washington Mutual, which JPMorgan acquired in 2008, a further $150bn of loans are subject to potential repurchase demands.

Separately, Goldman traders lost money on two days during the third quarter, but each time losses did not exceed $25m. The bank’s trading desks booked more than $100m in net revenues on seven occasions.
JPMorgan’s securities unit had notched up trading gains on every single working day last quarter, in spite of subdued market conditions, the filing showed.

It is JP Morgan’s second “perfect quarter” in trading, following a similar feat in the first quarter of the year.
In the first nine months of 2010, JPMorgan suffered trading losses on eight days, all in the second quarter, when its commodity division was hit by a lossmaking bet on the price of coal.

Pending Class Action Lawsuits


Interesting PDF about some Class Actions look threw it and see if your mortgage company is listed.

Lenders Face Lawmaker Wrath Over Foreclosures

November 14, 2010
WASHINGTON/CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) -

Banks under fire over their foreclosure practices face twin hearings in Congress this week, at which they
will come under renewed pressure to find ways to keep borrowers in their homes.

The hearings on Tuesday and Thursday will include the first appearances by executives from major lenders like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase since the furor over sloppy foreclosure paperwork erupted in September.

Banks are accused of having used “robo-signers” to sign hundreds of foreclosure documents a day, a fiasco that has reignited public anger with banks that received billions of dollars in taxpayer aid during the financial crisis. Lenders will be pressed on whether the paperwork problems are further evidence that modifying loans is a better alternative to eviction.

“Foreclosure should be the last option and we need to examine barriers to mortgage modifications,” Democratic Senator Tim Johnson, expected to lead the Banking Committee next year, said in an emailed
response to Reuters.

Other witnesses at Tuesday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing include Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading a 50-state probe of  foreclosure practices. Miller’s testimony will be closely watched. A
settlement with lenders could include fines or commitments to loan modifications. Bank of America and JPMorgan were among banks that temporarily suspended foreclosures pending internal reviews of their practices, but have since begun to resume sales of foreclosed properties.

Some lawmakers and consumer activists called in October for all lenders to institute a national moratorium on foreclosures, but they failed to gain traction due to fears it would further depress home sales and crimp economic growth. Real estate data company RealtyTrac said the temporary suspensions by banks led to a 9 percent drop in U.S. foreclosures in October from the month prior.

Republican Representative Spencer Bachus, the front- runner to be chairman of the House Financial Services
Committee next year, said the paperwork problems are “disturbing,” but singled out federal regulators for
criticism. “It is disappointing that the regulators didn’t catch this before the media since most of the problems in the contested foreclosure proceedings occurred at the nation’s largest banks,” Bachus told Reuters in an
email.

The House panel’s foreclosure hearing is set for Thursday.

COST TO BANKS

The mortgage paperwork mess threatens to eat into bank profits by delaying sales of bank-owned properties, drawing fines from regulators, and spawning lawsuits from both homeowners and advertisement By Dave Clarke and Joe Rauch Lenders Face Lawmaker Wrath Over Foreclosures investors in mortgage-backed securities.

Some industry analysts have said a bigger cost for  banks stems from investor demands that they buy back billions of dollars of mortgage bonds because they misrepresented the quality of the underlying loans.
Georgetown University law professor Adam Levitin, a witness on Tuesday, sees a fundamental danger
highlighted by the sloppy paperwork. He believes the mortgage industry has failed to properly track the
ownership of loans, undermining the legal standing of mortgage-backed securities.

The U.S. government’s Home Affordable Modification Program has had limited success and banks have
been reluctant to reduce the principal owed, a step that can require approval by multiple investors, and
causes banks and investors to take losses. Nevertheless, some economists and housing experts believe the time has come for lenders and mortgage investors to accept reductions in the amounts they are owed.

“It just cannot be the case that foreclosure is preferable to modification — including reductions of principal — for a significant proportion of mortgages where the dead-weight costs of foreclosure, including a distressed sale discount, are so high,”

Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said in a speech at George Washington University law school on Friday. The Fed and other federal banking regulators are reviewing the processes large banks have in place for foreclosures.

Congress is currently led by the Democrats, but big losses at the November 2 elections mean Republicans
will control the House next year while Democrats retain the Senate with a reduced majority. That split in control could ensure legislative gridlock and minimize lawmakers’ influence on the foreclosure issue.

“I have no hopes for this Congress whatsoever,” said John Taylor, president of the National Community
Reinvestment Coalition. Taylor said he is placing his hopes for a mortgage modification push in the state
attorneys general.

Loan Modification Better Option than Foreclosure Banks Told

Banks are being told that mortgage loan modification is a better option than foreclosure. The heat is on banks and their foreclosure practices as Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase face two hearings in Congress this week.

Banks will come under pressure to adapt loan modification as a way to keep borrowers in their homes rather than foreclosure and eviction.

The hearings come following the foreclosure debacle in September where sloppy paperwork processing and robo-signing led to illegal foreclosures. Public anger has risen against banks and their foreclosure practices after receiving billions in taxpayer bail outs after the mortgage bubble burst.

Democratic Senator Tim Johnson said, “Foreclosure should be the last option and we need to examine barriers to mortgage modifications.” Johnson is expected to lead the Banking Committee next year.
In October consumer activists and some lawmakers called for a national moratorium on foreclosures. But fears of further depressing home sales and economic growth outweighed the call. The mortgage mess will invariably hurt bank profits. Sales of delinquent properties will be delayed and hefty fines for violating banking regulations are also possible. Banks will also be faced with multiple lawsuits both from investors and homeowners.

If investors succeed in getting banks to buy back billions in misrepresented mortgage securities
the damages could exceed the net worth of some banks.

Obama’s Home Affordable Modification Program has helped few homeowners had and banks do not want to lose money by reducing the principal owed on loans. But some experts believe it is time for banks to rethink their position and accept mortgage loan modification with reductions to the amount they are owed.

Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said, “It just cannot be the case that foreclosure is preferable to modification — including reductions of principal — for a significant proportion of mortgages where the dead-weight costs of foreclosure, including a distressed sale discount, are so high.”

Superb Complaint piercing the heart of Deutsch Bank’s authority to collect money, file suit, seeking recovery of property and money through receiver and damages against the lawyers who filed the foreclosure suits.

Superb Complaint piercing the heart of Deutsch Bank’s authority to collect money, file suit, seeking recovery of property and money through receiver and damages against the lawyers who filed the foreclosure suits. 

whittiker_v_deutsche_bank_complaint

 

In the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, eastern Division, Case no. 1:08CV300, Judge David D. Dowd, Jr. Whitaker v Deutsch Bank et al First Amended Complaint with jury demand

Filed by James Rosenthal, 216-781-7956, William Novak, 216-781-8700, Kenard McDuffie 216-721-9227

 

Excerpts:

 

DBNTC has routinely filed suit against potential class-members and on many occasions received distributions from the sale of their properties without possessing legally enforceable, recorded assignment of mortgages from the actual mortgagees. Under Ohio law {EDITOR: and the laws of virtually ALL states}, “before an entity would be entitled to receive a distribution from the sale of [real] property, their interest therein must have been recorded in accordance with Ohio law.” In re Foreclosure Cases, 2007 WL 3232430, *2 (N.D. Ohio October 31, 2007) (the “Judge Boyco Decision”).


DBNTC’s pattern and practice of filing foreclosure actions in state and federal courts without the requisite legal title, while falsely stating that it had such title, and while lacking the right to engage in trust business in Ohio, constitutes a “false, deceptive or misleading representation or means” in connection with the collection of a debt, in violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Procedures Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1692e. It also constitutes an offense against justice and public administration in violation of R.C. Sec 2921.03, and therefore constitutes a pattern of corrupt activity as required to maintain an action for violation of Ohio’s RICO statute. The defendant law firms have independent obligations to the Courts in Ohio and to the plaintiffs not to engage in such misconduct, but they have nevertheless served as the vehicle through which DBNTC has perpetrated its deceptive and unauthorized conduct.


All of the defendants are “debt collectors” as defined in 15 U.S.C. 1692e, because they regularly use instrumentalities of interstate commerce, and the mails, in attempting to collect, directly, or indirectly, debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due to another, namely the actual lenders, mortgagors, and certificate-holders under the above-referenced pooling and servicing agreements. Upon information and belief, the defendant law firms regularly represented defendant DBNTC in suits against potential class members to collect on notes and foreclose on mortgages.


Upon information and belief, there remains no record in the lawsuit of any assignment from First NLC Financial Services, LLC to Argent Mortgage Company, LLC and Defendant failed to establish a complete chain of assignment from the originator to the person assigning the mortgage to DBNTC.


Notwithstanding the patent defect in the chain of assignment of the note and mortgage, for foreclosure was granted to Defendant DBNTC, and the property was sold to the Defendant at sheriff’s auction in January, 2008.
…From the perspective of the “least sophisticated consumer,” a lawsuit by a national banking association on a debt acknowledged to be owed would be presumed to be valid insofar as the bank’s standing and authority are concerned.
In foreclosing on plaintiff’s homes, the defendants:
  1. made false, deceptive and misleading representations concerning DBNTC’s standing to sue the plaintiffs and its interest in the debt;
  2. falsely represented the status of the debt, in particular, that it was due and owing to defendant DBNTC at the time the suit was filed;
  3. falsely represented or implied that the debt was owing to DBNTC as an innocent purchaser for value, when in fact, such an assignment had not been accomplished;
  4. threatened to take action namely engaging in collection activities and collection and foreclosure suits as trustee that cannot legally be taken by then; and
  5. obtained access to Ohio state and federal courts to collect on notes and foreclose on mortgages under false pretenses, namely, that DBNTC was duly authorized to engage in such activities as trustee in Ohio when in fact it was not. {Editor’s Note: In other words, that Deutsch Bank might have been registered to do business as a banker in Ohio but it wasn’t acting as a banker and it was suing as banker. It was alleging merely that it was a trustee acting as a trustee engaged in “trust activities” and had never qualified itself to do business as a trust.}
The defendants have violated Section 2921.03 by knowingly filing complaints alleging DBNTC’s ownership of the promissory notes and mortgages when in fact it did not own the notes and mortgages, and by knowingly filing complaints as trustee in reckless disregard of the fact that Defendant DBNTC was not authorized to engage in such activities as Trustee in Ohio

Under R.C. 2735.01(A), the Court may appoint a receiver in a case such as this, involving parties “jointly…interested in any property or fund, on the application of the plaintiff.”

Defendant DBNTC and each plaintiff are “jointly interested” in the foreclosed properties, and in the funds created or to be created upon the liquidation of the defendant’s interest. {Editors’ Note: I would have said “defendant’s alleged interest.”}. Plaintiffs not only have a right to cause defendant to divest its interest in their properties, but there are charges which defendants have collected and are attempting to collect against Class members’ equity that were charged or incurred in violation of the laws described elsewhere in this complaint.


Plaintiffs request that a receiver be appointed, who shall recover from Defendant DBNTC the charges it collected from the Class, as well as any interests in real property it acquired illegally, recover fees improperly earned by the law firms, and determine the proper allocation and ownership of these funds and property interests.

Friday, November 12, 2010

How 2 civilian sleuths brought foreclosure problems to light

How 2 civilian sleuths brought foreclosure problems to light

FORECLOSURES-AGITATORS
Lisa Epstein and Michael Redman looking through mortgage documents at the Palm Beach County Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Fla. They're two of the nation's most influential citizen agitators helping to uncover foreclosure fraud and abuse. | Steve Mitchell/MCT
PALM BEACH, Fla. — More than a year before lenders, law firms and document companies began owning up to widespread paperwork problems with their foreclosure filings, Lisa Epstein and Michael Redman already knew that something was wrong — very wrong.

Redman, a former online automobile consultant, got his first taste of the problem in early 2008, when he tried to help a relative who was facing foreclosure.

As he tried to determine which of three or four supposed lenders held the note, Redman, 35, realized that not only did he not know the answer, neither did any of the companies that were asking for payment.
Epstein, a nurse who cares for cancer patients, also is going through foreclosure. She got her baptism in the world of shoddy foreclosure paperwork in the summer of 2009, however, when she tried to help a brain tumor patient keep her home.

Epstein helped draft a letter challenging the foreclosure because, as in Redman's case, it was unclear from court papers who owned the home's mortgage.

After arriving at the summary judgment hearing in her nurse's uniform, an emotional Epstein, 45, watched as the ill woman read their letter aloud in court. When the opposing attorneys never showed, the judge refused to finalize the foreclosure. The woman remains in her home as the legal wrangling continues.

For Epstein, who often helped her patients navigate disputes with their health insurance companies, the role of advocate wasn't new — but the thrill of a courtroom victory was.

"It was like something struck inside me, like this is what I'm compelled to do. I can be a nurse for people caught in this foreclosure crisis," Epstein said. "I remember thinking, 'I'm not an attorney, and there are definite obstacles, but maybe there's a role for me.' And I ran back to the hospital like I had wings. I felt like this is my purpose."

Within a year, she and Redman — who didn't know each other at the time — would leave their respective jobs to pursue their passion for helping others and exposing injustice in the foreclosure industry.

After meeting late last year at a foreclosure fraud seminar, they teamed up to become two of the nation's most influential civilian beat cops for the beleaguered foreclosure industry.

Equal parts agitators, activists and advocates, Redman and Epstein have made their presence felt in Florida and nationally through their respective websites, 4closureFraud.org and foreclosurehamlet.org.

Under a sun-drenched sky last week, Redman proudly perused his Web log to see recent visits from the Internal Revenue Service, the Homeland Security Department, the Justice Department, Fannie Mae, the Housing and Urban Development Department and the CIA, among others. Someone from the executive office of the president took a recent look, too, he said.

Major banks also are peeping at Redman's frequent postings and snarky analysis of embarrassing documents that appear to show foreclosure industry fraud.

Last week, he posted a deposition from a clerk at one of four Florida law firms that the state attorney general is investigating on suspicions that they're using fabricated documents to evict thousands of homeowners. She told investigators that the firm's employees regularly signed affidavits without reading them and put incorrect dates on documents.

"This kind of stuff goes on all the time, and it's everywhere," Redman said.

Problem foreclosure documents are the latest chapter in the housing crisis that triggered the Great Recession.
After a record 347,420 foreclosure filings and 102,134 bank repossessions in September, the U.S. is on pace to top 1.2 million foreclosures this year, up from about 1 million last year, according to new data from RealtyTrac, which collects and analyzes real estate records from across the country.

In foreclosure cases nationwide, bank officials have signed sworn affidavits, supposedly verifying their knowledge of the matters in question. However, after several bank officials told investigators they'd signed thousands of affidavits without reading them, the nation's foreclosure process has ground nearly to a halt as officials investigate the practice known as "robo-signing."

Major lenders JPMorgan Chase and Ally, formerly GMAC, have stopped evictions to check for bad paperwork in Florida and 22 other states that require court orders to seize property. Bank of America last week halted foreclosures while it reviews paperwork in all 50 states.

On Wednesday, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said he'd lead the new Mortgage Foreclosure Multistate Group's investigation of the problem and propose possible remedies. The bipartisan group includes state attorneys and state banking and mortgage regulators from all 50 states.

In Florida, where one of every 56 homes was in foreclosure proceedings in the third quarter of this year, Redman and Epstein have shone a light on efforts to ram cases through courts without much fact-checking.
Foreclosure defense attorney Chris Immel of Palm Beach County said the ongoing scandal was changing that practice nationally and in Florida.

"A lot of that has to do with the activism of people like Mike and Lisa. They get a lot of attention, and a lot of people look to them because they're very active with their blogs and their activism," Immel said.
Whether they're being courted by prominent print news outlets or interviewed on cable television news shows, doing conference calls with state officials or protesting on courthouse steps, Redman and Epstein are consumed by their new roles.

They've filed briefs with the Florida Supreme Court and sent questionable documents to state investigators, the FBI, the Justice Department and numerous banking regulators.

Earlier this year, they led two busloads of people to the state capital in Tallassee to protest a proposed change in Florida law that would have allowed foreclosures without court orders. The measure was defeated.
When it appeared several weeks ago that President Barack Obama might sign legislation that could weaken fraud protections in foreclosure cases, Redman and Epstein posted an action alert, urging people to call the White House and voice their opposition.

"At one point, so many people were calling (the comment line) that you couldn't even get through. I absolutely think our silent army is not being silent anymore," said Karen Pooley of Seattle, a 48-year-old building material saleswoman who credits Epstein's website with teaching her how to find evidence of fabricated paperwork. She ended up finding suspicious documents that helped a friend get his foreclosure sale canceled.
"Not postponed, but canceled," said Pooley, who's also fighting her own foreclosure and organizing local volunteers to look for more bad documents. "Lisa was very helpful in teaching me how to search and get this army started."

Andrew Delaney, who's fighting the foreclosure of his home in Ashburnham, Mass., drove all the way to Florida in the spring to meet with Redman. He said Redman's advice on checking court documents for flawed paperwork has allowed him to avoid foreclosure for more than two years as banks try to prove who holds his note.

"The information they provided gave me the inspiration to do more research on my own and to help other people. I just took the position where I have to help others. I just have to."



Wisconsin foreclosure rates slip from September

Read more: Wisconsin foreclosure rates slip from September | The Business Journal

October foreclosure rates in Wisconsin dipped 1.6 percent from September rates, but were 11.7 percent higher than in October of 2009.

Wisconsin ranked 17th-worst in the nation with 4,815 properties in some form of foreclosure in October, or one for every 534 households, according to industry tracker RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif.

Foreclosures are defined as default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

Nationally, foreclosures were reported on 332,172 properties in October -- a 4 percent decrease from September and almost exactly the same total reported in October 2009. One in every 389 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during October 2010.

“October marks the 20th consecutive month where over 300,000 U.S. homeowners received a foreclosure notice,” said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, in a statement. “The numbers probably would have been higher except for the fallout from the recent 'robo-signing' controversy, which is the most likely reason for the 9 percent monthly drop in REOs we saw from September to October and which may result in further decreases in November.”


Read more: Wisconsin foreclosure rates slip from September | The Business Journal

GMAC foreclosure case may set anti-bank precedent

GMAC foreclosure case may set anti-bank precedent

Michael Riley, Bloomberg News
Tuesday, November 9, 2010

When James Renfro had to stop making payments on his two-story fixer-upper in Parma, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, he triggered events that were supposed to result in the forced sale of his home.

That Nov. 15 auction has been canceled because of defects in documents submitted by his loan servicer, Ally Financial Inc.'s GMAC Mortgage unit. Two affidavits about Renfro's home were signed by Jeffrey Stephan, a GMAC employee who said in sworn depositions in Florida and Maine that he hadn't read thousands of affidavits he'd signed.

Renfro's case has created a showdown between GMAC and Ohio's Attorney General Richard Cordray. Cordray has asked Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nancy Russo not to let GMAC simply submit new documents to cure defects without consequences. He's taken the same stand against Wells Fargo & Co., which has said it found defects in 55,000 foreclosures.

"This is just the first," said Cordray, who filed an amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief in the Renfro case. He argued that Russo should punish GMAC for its conduct.

The judge in Cleveland set an accelerated schedule on Monday for evidence-gathering in the case, leading up to a Feb. 17 hearing on the integrity of the loan documents. Cordray's office plans to file a motion today asking to take part in the case and participate in so-called discovery.

May speed cases

 

The precedent set by the case might hasten a settlement between home lenders and the attorneys general of the 50 U.S. states, who are investigating allegations of fraud in foreclosure filings. Those being probed include Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, which has said it will refile foreclosure affidavits involving statements that "did not strictly adhere to the required procedures."

In potentially thousands of cases across the United States, judges have the power to impose "sanctions, penalties, fines and even default," as the banks try to submit substitute paperwork to proceed with flawed foreclosures, Cordray said.

"The banks want to wish this away and pretend like it doesn't exist," he said.

In September, Ally briefly suspended foreclosures in 23 states where there is judicial review and later announced an independent survey of foreclosure proceedings that would extend nationwide. After a review, the company began reinstating proceedings in cases it said didn't involve errors.

Tom Goyda, a spokesman for Wells Fargo, said the lender would go ahead with plans to resubmit thousands of affidavits in cases nationwide, including Ohio. When judges seek information on documents already filed, "we will work with them to meet their concerns," Goyda said.

Scope of robo signing

 

The 50-state investigation is focused on uncovering the scope of tainted foreclosures, including how what are being called robo signers processed documents they didn't review, Cordray said. So far, investigators have identified "double figures of robo signers" working on behalf of lenders such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., he said.

Such banks are conducting their own reviews to spot errors and determine how many cases with defects are involved. GMAC's Stephan testified to signing as many as 10,000 documents a month. JPMorgan initially suspended foreclosures in 23 states affecting 56,000 cases to review potentially faulty documents.

Among the least appealing scenarios for the lenders is that affected cases will have to be examined, like the Renfro case, in individual courtrooms across the country, with the possibility of thousands of judges questioning robo signers and other loan processing officials.

Judge Russo said in an interview that until hearing the evidence, she has no way of telling whether the documents represent an error, negligence, or fraud, and that other judges will have to make the same time-consuming inquiries.

"If Ohio has 10,000 of these cases, there should be 10,000 hearings," Russo said. "I'm sympathetic to the fact that it's onerous for the lenders, but I still have to do my job."

Market Data Provided by Bloomberg News

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/08/BUKL1G8UH4.DTL#ixzz14oAobg4Z

VERY SCARY VIDEO: Mortgage Fraud Deposition

You have got to Love this deposition [from the standpoint of foreclosure defense].

EDITOR'S NOTE: Actually we have to  hate this video. Our entire legal system, property titles, contracts and business practices are under siege. We are a country that has been occupied and currently a battle for control of our destiny --- individually for each citizen and as a country --- is underway. And despite the revelations and disclosures, we are very far from winning. The widespread use of Wall Street money at the Federal and State level is going to be used to push a "reset" button that validates every illegal act that has been committed and will put in doubt, for all time to come, whether anyone can ever trust a transfer of property --- real or personal --- ever again. This will put us in the same category as third world nations where the risk of nationalization and just plain theft is legalized and accepted by those with authority to do it. The IMF and World Bank have been warning us about this for decades. Now the time has come for us to move one way or the other.


The guy in this video is clearly a fairly decent guy trying to tell the truth as best as he knows it. He was put in the position of signing documents without any clear understanding of how he could be authorized to sign on behalf of more than 20 different major institutions. He had no no understanding or no clear understanding of the effect of any of the documents he was signing. You'll see where he says that he doesn't know what an assignment is or what it does. He was used as a pawn in a vary large scheme wherein the people pulling the levers were in a command room that consisted of a process rather than a place. Wherever you look, that is where they are not.


The central point that should be the focus of this effort is whether the mortgages were valid, whether the notes were valid, and who were the real parties to the transaction in which money was advanced by investors and borrowed by borrowers, with securitization participants (co-venturers) biting off pieces of the investor money as it traveled down the securitization chain. This is BOTH a procedural and substantive issue. Perjury, forgery, fabrication, lack of authorization are all bad things that threaten the integrity of our system of commerce and our legal system. But the larger threat is the very real fact that the party who physically advanced the money that was loaned to the borrower is not mentioned in any of the loan documents.


This IS a case of the note split from the mortgage. That would be bad enough, because it would still allow disinterested parties to claim an interest in the receivable or the property. The larger problem is that this is a case where there was a wholesale split of the obligation from the note and the mortgage.

DEUTSCH BANK DISCOVERY - THIS RULING IS BIG

DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY ANSWERS TO PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS ALL THREE SETS WITH RESPONSES. THIS RULING IS BIG.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/41761327/DEUTSCHE-BANK-NATIONAL-TRUST-COMPANY-AS-TRUSTEE-PRODUCTION-REQUEST-SET-3

http://www.scribd.com/doc/41761150/DEUTSCHE-BANK-NATIONAL-TRUST-COMPANY-AS-TRUSTEE-REQUEST-FOR-PRODUCTION-OF-DOCUMENTS-SET-2

http://www.scribd.com/doc/41760663/DEUTSCHE-BANK-NATIONAL-TRUST-COMPANY-AS-TRUSTEE-PRODUCTION-OF-THE-DOCUMENTS

http://www.scribd.com/doc/40273991/SUPONEA-Deutsche-Bank-National-Trust-Company-as-Trustee-and-Custodian-of-Records

MARYLAND CLASS ACTION AGAINST FORECLOSURE MILL

FILED TODAY: 11.10.10 -Maryland-Class-Action-Bgww[1]

Action alleges intentionally falsified documents screwing up the court and property title system.

Great Line: "...the Defendants assembly line foreclosure prosecution became to foreclosure misconduct what Henry Ford was to automobile production."

Monday, November 8, 2010

Full Video Depositions Of Nationwide Title Clearing Robo Signing Fraud & Additonal New Class Actions

This deposition was taken on November 4, 2010 in Pinellas County, Florida, by attorney Christopher Forrest of The Forrest Law Firm.

Bryan Bly Deposition Video

Dhurata Doko Deposition Video

Crystal Moore Deposition Video


NEW CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS

IT'S THE MASSES THAT WILL BRING DOWN THE GIANTS

FLORIDA CLASS ACTION FILED AGAINST GMAC, ALLY

 


UTAH CLASS ACTION AGAINST BOA, WELLS FARGO, BONY, RECONTRUST


Homeowners say loan mods led them to foreclosure

LOS ANGELES – Grocery store owners William and Esperanza Casco were making enough money to stay current on their mortgage, but when JPMorgan Chase & Co. offered a plan that reduced their payments, they figured they could use the extra cash and signed up.

The Cascos say they never missed a subsequent payment, so they were horrified when the bank decided the smaller payments weren't enough and foreclosed on their modest Long Beach home.

Their story is echoed across the country by people who claim — some in lawsuits — that banks didn't live up to their end of the deal when they agreed to trial mortgage modifications.

The suits add to a feeling among many struggling homeowners that they're getting little help from the part of the government's $700 billion Wall Street rescue that aimed to help them directly.

Indeed, Treasury statistics show that only about one-third of the nearly 1.4 million homeowners accepted into the government's payment reduction program over the past year have had their reductions made permanent.
"It is extremely unfair that someone like me and my wife who have owned our home for 17 years and never missed a payment could end up in foreclosure," Casco, 47, said in Spanish through an interpreter.
Chase spokesman Gary Kishner was unable to comment on whether Cascos had been current on their payments but insisted the bank had treated the couple fairly.

"We worked with the borrower to give him as many opportunities as possible to qualify for a modification," he said. "However, they were not able to do so and therefore we were forced to foreclose on the property."
Several federal lawsuits filed in Boston accuse major lenders of breach of contract under the government's Home Affordable Modification Program, in which banks agreed to participate as part of the bank bailout.
The lawsuits say the banks agreed under HAMP to grant permanent mortgage modifications to borrowers who make all payments during trial modifications.

Attorney Shennan Alexandra Kavanagh said several of the plaintiffs lost their homes after their payments reverted to their original sums that they were unable to pay. She said she believes tens of thousands of borrowers in Massachusetts alone could be covered by the suits if they get class-action status.

One of the lawsuits, against Bank of America Corp., was consolidated earlier this month with similar complaints in five other states, Kavanagh said.

Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton said in an e-mail that the lender will continue aggressively defending itself against the cases.

More lawsuits have been filed against other lenders elsewhere.

In San Francisco, the Housing and Economic Rights Advocates legal services group sued Chase, accusing the New York bank of profiting from collecting payments during long trial modifications that ultimately end in foreclosure.

"They're participating in the crisis they had helped to foment by refusing to honor loan modifications they had already agreed to," said attorney James C. Sturdevant, whose firm is assisting in the lawsuit.

Chase's Kishner said he could not comment on the pending litigation.

Joseph R. Mason, a professor at Louisiana State University's business school who has written widely on the subprime lending debacle, said he suspects the loan modification disputes are a legacy of the federal government's rush to stem the flow of foreclosures before it had adequate plans in place.

"These policymakers said, just go out and do this and don't let us worry about the details," he said. "These details are now what are coming to the fore in these modification cases."

Laurie Maggiano, policy director at the Treasury Department's Homeownership Preservation Office, said banks were encouraged to offer trial modifications based on interviews with borrowers about their incomes and expenses while they sorted out the paperwork to qualify for permanently reduced payments.

The banks were under no obligation to make trial modifications permanent until this June, when new regulations stopped loan servicers from offering the trials based on stated income, Maggiano said.
Now, incomes and other details are being fully vetted before trial periods, and borrowers are preapproved for a permanent modification as long as they make three trial period payments, she said.

She also said banks are only obliged to grant modifications if the investors who hold the mortgages also benefit from the modification, as mandated by the October 2008 legislation approving the bailout.
Those explanations provide little comfort to the Cascos.

"I think that banks are playing games with us," William Casco said.
Casco said his monthly mortgage payments to Washington Mutual Inc. went up to $2,765 when he refinanced his home in 2006 to pay for a new a meat counter at his store in the industrial Los Angeles suburb of South Gate.

Chase was in the process of acquiring Washington Mutual in January 2009 when Casco said it sent a note telling him he qualified for a lower forbearance rate. The El Salvador native sent the tax returns and business documents the bank was requesting.

His payment was reduced to $1,250, where it remained for several months until Chase told him to apply for a trial loan modification.

Again, Casco said, he sent Chase the documentation they requested. His payment rose to $2,363 in June, then returned to the forbearance rate in October.

Casco said he continued paying what he was asked until August 2010, when Chase told his family that they were $50,000 behind on their payments and put them into foreclosure.

The home has since been sold and Casco is currently fighting eviction. That has him considering joining an existing lawsuit against the bank or seeking support to file a suit on his own.

"I'm determined to do whatever it takes in order to keep my house," he said. "I feel that a great injustice has been done to my family."

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

ATTENTION ALL WISCONSIN HOMEOWNERS WITH CHASE HOME FINANCE HAMP MODIFICATION PROBLEMS, THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE CLASS ACTION



This is a call out to all Wisconsin homeowners that have been experiencing problems with Chase home Finance with regard to the government's HAMP trial modification. The time has come to file a Class Action Lawsuit against them. 

We have all seen it posted all over the news, even our own President of the United States has fallen victim to the Robo-Signers, as well as every Attorney General finally seeing problems with these bank thieves and are investigating.

If you are a Wisconsin Homeowner that has experienced problem after problem with Chase Home Finance, we here at Fighting Chase Home Finance ask that you join the fight. We have the attorneys rolling up their sleeves, cracking open the boxes of pens, and notepads, and ready to take the fight to CHF’s door.

Fighting Chase Home Finance was started by  a homeowner that has been jumping through the hoops of the bankster's for the last 3 years, just trying to get a fair modification and force the bankster's to honor their contracts. We started this blog to get all the Wisconsin homeowners in one central location to tell their story, as well as allow our attorneys a location to access those homeowners that may have similar issues, and would like to join the Class Action Lawsuit.

Please contact us with your story as well as your contact information HERE. Time is of the essence, for some of you that could mean days!!!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

$100 million Class Action Robo Suit Against HSBC and Wells Fargo

by Neil Garfield - LivingLies Garfield Continuum

jones v hsbc 09-2904rwt Maryland

Reginald Jones is the lead Class Action Plaintiff in a Maryland case alleging robo-signed documents. The well-written complaint was filed by Jon D. Pels, Esq. Bar No. 11883
Lawrence J. Anderson, Esq. Bar No. 11390 Justin Reiner, Esquire Bar NO. 16403 Jennifer O. Schiffer, Esquire 4833 Rugby Avenue, 4th Floor

Bethesda, MD 20814 (301) 986-5570 (T) (301) 986-5571 (F) e-mail: jpels@pallaw.com Counsel for the Plaintiffs

The action is filed October 26, 2010 in Federal District Court, District of Maryland, Greenbelt division. Case # 09-2904 RWT. It recites, as many of these cases now do, actual testimony from witnesses who signed documents they knew nothing about. It lists as causes of action the following:

FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION
-    Solely Against Buonassissi, Henning & Lash, P.C    -
Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) (15 U.S.C. § 1692, et seq.)

SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION
-    All Defendants -
Wrongful Foreclosure: Failure to Comply with Maryland Real Property Article, §§ 7-105.1 or 7-105.2

THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION
-    All Defendants    -
VIOLATION OF THE MARYLAND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

FOURTH CAUSE OF ACTION
-    All Defendants    -
BREACH OF CONTRACT – IMPLIED COVENANT OF GOOD FAITH AND FAIR DEALING

FIFTH CAUSE OF ACTION
-    All Defendants    -
UNJUST ENRICHMENT/CONSTRUCTIVE TRUST

SIXTH CAUSE OF ACTION
-    All Defendants    -
INJUNCTIVE / DECLARATORY RELIEF

SEVENTH CAUSE OF ACTION
-    All Defendants    -
COMMON LAW FRAUD

Monday, November 1, 2010

Tell your Attorney General "Don't Sit Down with the Banks! Stand up Against Fraud!"

Banks `Want to Sit Down' With States to Discuss Foreclosures

A 50-state task force investigating U.S. foreclosure practices may meet with lenders as early as this week, less than a month after JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. suspended some home seizures.

“We’ve had several conference calls with major lenders,” Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said in an interview, declining to specify which ones. “The banks want to sit down with the attorneys general. These meetings are being set up,” said Suthers, whose office is a member of the executive committee of the task force.

All 50 states on Oct. 13 announced a coordinated inquiry into whether banks and loan servicers used false documents and signatures to justify hundreds of thousands of foreclosures. The probe came after JPMorgan and Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC mortgage unit said they would stop repossessions in 23 states where courts supervise home seizures and Bank of America froze foreclosures nationwide.

Read the rest here...

Now get on the phones and tell your state AG's not to deal with these devils...