A Good Day in Cape May County

May 31, 2013 By

We had a foreclosure case come up for trial last month in Cape May County, New Jersey. The plaintiff was Fannie Mae, and they had bought the loan from my client’s federal credit union. There was significant fraud in the way the Lender lied to my client in order to get him to take the mortgage loan in the first place. I retained an expert witness, a former mortgage broker with 20+ years of experience, to testify at trial. As in a lot of my cases, the expert wrote a narrative report which outlined the fraud that was committed by the lender.

With the trial quickly approaching, the bank filed a motion asking that the judge not allow my expert to testify asserting two main points: 1) if fraud was committed, it was done by others, not Fannie Mae, and 2) the foreclosure lawsuit was simple enough that an expert witness was not required. I filed a Reply Brief demonstrating that Fannie Mae has a duty to evaluate a loan before it buys it, and my expert demonstrated the ways the lender manipulated the loan documents, eventually causing my client to spend $75,000 more than he should over the 30 year term of the loan.

After oral argument, The Honorable William C. Todd agreed with me and denied the bank’s motion. My expert can testify, and is ready and willing to do so at trial.

Contact Shaffer & Gaier

To set up a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call our foreclosure hotline at 855-289-1660. Or call our office location in Philadelphia at 215-751-0100, or in New Jersey at 856-429-0970.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: , , , ,

Lunch and Learn Seminar Series: ‘Don’t Lose Your Shirt and Your Home – What Professionals Must Know About the Tricky Area of Foreclosure’

May 14, 2013 By

Lunch and Learn Seminar Series:

Click Here to Register:
‘Don’t Lose Your Shirt and Your Home – What Professionals Must Know About the Tricky Area of Foreclosure’

Filed Under: Current Events, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: , , ,

Philadelphia Judge Denies Bank’s Motion for Summary Judgment

April 1, 2013 By

My clients own a home in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood in Philadelphia. Their lender is Suntrust Mortgage Company, an Atlanta based lender with offices in the Southern and Eastern U.S. and in the Cayman Islands.

Suntrust sued my clients in a foreclosure lawsuit in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. In January, Suntrust filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing to the court that a trial was not necessary because the loan documents themselves prove that the homeowners are in default. The banks frequently file these motions in which they argue that the bank should have the absolute right to foreclose. A closer inspection of the loan documents, however, established that the bank may not have properly applied the mortgage payments to the principal and interest when the payments were made. This created a question of fact because my clients’ mortgage payments conflicted with the bank’s payment ledgers.

The trial court agreed, on February 27, 2013 the judge denied the bank’s motion for summary judgment. The clients continue to reside in the home and I am awaiting notification of a trial date.

Contact Shaffer & Gaier

To set up a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call our foreclosure hotline at 855-289-1660. Or call our office location in Philadelphia at 215-751-0100, or in New Jersey at 856-429-0970.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Federal Court Foreclosure Practice

March 27, 2013 By

I have a case pending in Federal District Court in Philadelphia against Bank of America (the servicing bank) and HSBC (HSBC controls the trust that holds my client’s mortgage). The basis of the lawsuit is that the banks lied to my client when they told him that he should let his loan go into default if he wanted a loan modification. As crazy as this may sound, this is a technique used by the banks over that last couple of years. Of course, this sets up a homeowner for a foreclosure lawsuit. This all happened before he retained me, and as luck would have it, my client did exactly what the bank told him to do—he went into default and the bank filed a foreclosure action against him in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

I filed a lawsuit for fraud and promissory estoppel (i.e., my client relied on the bank’s statement that he should go into default). The bank filed a motion to dismiss our lawsuit, claiming that it was not reasonable for my client to rely on such a promise.

At oral argument on February 14, 2013, it was clear that this was the first time that the Federal Court judge became aware that the bank engaged in tactics like this. Since most foreclosure-based lawsuits are filed in the state courts, this is not surprising. For a good part of the hearing, which lasted about an hour, I felt as if I was educating the Court about 1) the bank practices which led to the housing crisis and 2) the ridiculousness of the loan modification process. Instead of issuing an opinion, the judge ordered Bank of America to look into settling the entire matter, which would include withdrawing the foreclosure complaint and providing a loan modification.

Contact Shaffer & Gaier

To set up a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call our foreclosure hotline at 855-289-1660. Or call our office location in Philadelphia at 215-751-0100, or in New Jersey at 856-429-0970.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

US Department of Justice Continues to Pursue Wells Fargo Bank

February 28, 2013 By

Wells Fargo Bank may be the largest mortgage loan originator in the country, but the Department of Justice says that Wells Fargo continues to violate the terms of a settlement reached in July, 2012. On October 9, 2012, prosecutors in New York filed a new mortgage-based civil action against Wells Fargo, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for alleged mortgage fraud violations under the False Claims Act. The action asserts that Wells Fargo engaged in a long-standing and reckless trifecta of deficient training, deficient underwriting and deficient disclosure, all while relying on the convenient back stop of government insurance. Essentially, it is claimed that Wells Fargo originated bad loans, and then relied on government insurance through the Federal Housing Administration to pay the claims when those mortgages fell into default.

Wells Fargo, however, claims that the recent action is barred because the alleged conduct was already part of the July, 2012, settlement, and Wells Fargo claims that the slate was wiped clean. In court filings on November 1, Wells Fargo asked a trial judge to declare that the government’s second lawsuit is a breach of the July, 2012, settlement terms.

Contact Shaffer & Gaier

To set up a free initial consultation, contact our office online or call our foreclosure hotline at 855-289-1660. Or call our office location in Philadelphia at 215-751-0100, or in New Jersey at 856-429-0970.

Filed Under: Foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense, Mortgage Modification Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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