Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 146: Listen and Learn -- Mortgages and Priority
On September 19, 2024, the District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed claims against the mortgage lender, its mortgage servicer, and credit reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15...more
In an appeal heard by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department of New York, the Court recently ruled that a court may reform a guaranty after the statute of limitations for a reformation of...more
For the entirety of this lawyer’s career, it was universally accepted that if one spouse was going to keep the marital residence, that property needed to be refinanced so that the spouse passing title (i.e., moving on) was no...more
Most of us wander through life unconcerned about the vagaries of house finance laws until we decide we want a house. Candidly, because of how house purchases come about, most of us don’t know much about mortgage financing...more
Ohio- Assignee of Contract- Auto Loan, Inc. v. Sisler, 11th Dist. Portage No. 2022-Ohio-3282. In this appeal, the Eleventh Appellate District reversed the trial court’s decision finding that the plaintiff was not an...more
Welcome back to the Bar Exam Toolbox podcast! In today's installment of our "Listen and Learn" series, we're focusing on Real Property. In particular, we're diving into the tricky subtopic of mortgages and priorities. In...more
A recent decision from The Supreme Court of Florida (the “Florida Supreme Court”) in WVMF Funding v. Luisa Palmero, et al. (Fl. S. Ct.; SC19-1920, June 24, 2021) held that, while a note and mortgage must be read together, in...more
On July 7, 2021, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) introduced new uniform instruments (notes, security instruments, and riders) for use with loans to make them eligible for purchase by the GSEs. ...more
Just about every divorce case involves a house and its corresponding mortgage. In a small number of cases parties agree that dissolution of the marriage is also an opportune time to downsize the residence, but in most...more
Statute of Repose- Wilson v. Durrani, Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-6827 In this appeal, the Supreme Court of Ohio reversed the lower court’s decision, determining that the plaintiffs’ claims were time-barred because Ohio’s...more
Shareholder Derivative Lawsuit Aungst v. Light, 9th Dist. Summit No. 29349, 2020-Ohio-3347 In this appeal, the Ninth Appellate District affirmed the trial court’s decision, finding that when a shareholder’s derivative...more
Real Property Update - Foreclosure / Bankruptcy / Surrender: borrower cannot challenge judgment of foreclosure entered upon judicial notice of his statement of intention to surrender the property and order of discharge...more
Alabama’s materialman’s lien statute (specifically, Ala. Code § 35-11-211) was drafted with the intent of providing construction lenders priority over materialmen as to debts relating to construction projects. This intent was...more
In In re Fortin, 598 B.R. 689 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2019), the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts considered whether a lender may enforce a mortgage despite the unenforceability of the underlying...more
Late last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held in Regions Bank v. Legal Outsource PA, No. 17-11736, 2019 WL 4051703 (11th Cir. Aug 28, 2019), that a loan guarantor does not qualify as an “applicant”...more
Two recent Massachusetts Appeals Court decisions offer both clarity and caution to mortgage lenders seeking to enforce their loan documents. These decisions address the importance of properly drafting prepayment provisions in...more
Real Property Update - Foreclosure / Attorneys' Fees: borrower not entitled to attorneys' fees for prevailing on lender's claim for reformation of mortgage, where lender prevailed on claim of foreclosure without...more
In an opinion issued recently, Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal joined other Florida appellate courts in holding that the five-year statute of limitations to bring an action to enforce a promissory note and/or...more
On October 31, 2018, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal recently distinguished two of its prior opinions and held that a foreclosure plaintiff does not lose its standing as a holder of a negotiable instrument if it...more
As attorneys representing the financial services industry well know, the financial crisis of 2007-2008 resulted in a wave of foreclosures across the country as borrowers struggled to make payments on their mortgages. The...more
A promissory note is normally given in return for a loan and it is simply a promise to repay the amount. Classifying asset transfers as loans rather than gifts can be useful because it sometimes allows parents to "lend"...more
As covered earlier this week in a legal alert, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a report recommending sweeping regulatory changes for consumer financial services. Within the report, the Treasury also recommended a...more
Reverse mortgage lenders received a significant victory in Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal last week when the court issued its decision in OneWest Bank, FSB v. Palmero. After previously ruling in Smith v. Reverse...more
In a foreclosure action, the Illinois Appellate Court recently held that the foreclosing lender established its standing by attaching the blank-indorsed note to its complaint, but reversed judgment and remanded for the trial...more
In a recent opinion, the Supreme Court of Delaware held that a mortgage holder must be entitled to enforce the underlying obligation that secures the mortgage in order to foreclose on the mortgage. As a result of the court’s...more