December 10, 2015

Fannie Mae Announces Eviction Moratorium for the Holidays

Keosha Burns

202-752-7840

WASHINGTON, DC – Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTC) announced today that it will suspend evictions of foreclosed single-family properties during the holiday season. The suspension of evictions will apply to single-family and 2-4 unit properties from December 18, 2015 through January 3, 2016. During this period, legal and administrative proceedings for evictions may continue, but families will be allowed to remain in the home.

“As we have done in past years, we are suspending evictions during the holidays,” said Joy Cianci, Senior Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management for Fannie Mae. “We also continue to remind homeowners who may be struggling with their mortgages to reach out for help. Options are available to avoid foreclosure, and we want to help pursue those options whenever possible.”

Homeowners can visit www.knowyouroptions.com for resources on how to prevent foreclosure, including how to find out if Fannie Mae owns their loan. Homeowners can also contact Fannie Mae at 1-800-7FANNIE for more information.

__________________________________

READ THE VERDICT HERE: WOLF vs WELLS FARGO | Wells Fargo Must Pay $5.4M In Robosigning Foreclosure Row – See more at: https://stopforeclosurefraud.com/?s=5.4&x=51&y=11#sthash.FU5CeUJG.dpuf

Houston Chronicles-

David and Mary Ellen Wolf were several payments behind on their home mortgage and knew that foreclosure loomed.

They were puzzled, though, when a foreclosure notice came early in 2011 from Wells Fargo because they hadn’t done business with that bank.

They asked their West University neighbor, lawyer W. Craft Hughes, for help. After poring over mortgage records, Hughes came to the conclusion that neither Wells Fargo nor its mortgage servicer, Carrington Mortgage Services, had legal claim to the note on the house or the right to foreclose.

A state district court jury in Harris County agreed last month and awarded the Wolfs $5.4 million after a four-day trial.

[HOUSTON CHRONICLES]

Clouded Titles-

Take this post as an op-ed piece with teeth … and weep because a Sheriff could stoop so low! 

If there was a way to botch a criminal investigation while taking a pound of flesh out of the messengers, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Department must have either been reading from a playbook or “given marching orders” from someone higher up to thwart the investigation of hundreds of criminal allegations at all costs while exacting revenge on the Osceola County Clerk and his contracted help in the process.

Again, I point to the fact that the Sheriff’s Department handles the evictions of thousands of homeowners who are unwilling to vacate their foreclosed properties. If a fraudulently-recorded document was used to facilitate such a process, it only stands to reason that the Sheriff’s Department could be construed as being complicit to a much “bigger picture”.  Why else would they do everything to make a mockery of the entire investigative process and hang property owners out to dry?

[CLOUDED TITLES]

In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit

____________________
No. 15-8018

SCOTT MCMAHON,
Plaintiff-Petitioner,

v.

LVNV FUNDING, LLC, et al.,
Defendants-Respondents.
____________________

Petition for Leave to Appeal from an Order of the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
No. 12 C 1410 — Jorge Alonso, Judge.

____________________
SUBMITTED SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 — DECIDED DECEMBER 8, 2015
____________________

Before WOOD, Chief Judge, and FLAUM and SYKES, Circuit
Judges.

WOOD, Chief Judge. Scott McMahon, the plaintiff in this
putative class action arising under the Fair Debt Collection
Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., sought to certify
a class of persons in Illinois who had received misleading
dunning letters from defendant LVNV Funding, LLC.
(There are other defendants, but for simplicity we refer to
them collectively as LVNV.) After the district court declined
to certify the class, McMahon petitioned this court under
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) for permission to appeal
that decision. We grant McMahon’s petition and proceed
to the merits, because the parties’ comprehensive submissions—
together with the record in the district court—
suffice to decide this limited question. We conclude that the
district court’s decision to deny class certification was erroneous
and thus that the case must be sent back to the district
court for further proceedings on the class allegations.
See Pella Corp. v. Saltzman, 606 F.3d 391, 393 (7th Cir. 2010);
Allen v. Int’l Truck & Engine Corp., 358 F.3d 469, 470 (7th Cir.
2004); see also Johnson v. Pushpin Holdings, LLC, 748 F.3d 769,
771 (7th Cir. 2014).

[…]

The Intercept_

When Bernie Sanders brought up Hillary Clinton’s prodigious fundraising from Wall Street at the Nov. 14 Democratic presidential debate, Clinton called it an attack on her “integrity.” And in an interview this week, she said that “anybody who thinks they can influence me on that ground doesn’t know me very well.”

But the fact remains that the Clinton campaign is fundraising heavily from Wall Street. Contributions from the securities and investment industries comprise her fourth-largest pile of campaign money, totaling $2,044,471. Commercial banks have given $443,519 directly to her campaign.

One major donor to her Super PAC, Priorities USA, is Donald Mullen Jr., a man who was singularly able to profit from the financial crisis both before and after the crash of the housing bubble.

[THE INTERCEPT]

image: Flickr.com

Cross Posted from Clouded Titles Blog–

BREAKING NEWS!  (with a little op-ed thrown in for flavor …)

(KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA) — The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Osceola County’s complaint to the Department of Justice in Washington, DC has now been referred to the Tampa office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for follow-up.  The Clerk has personally informed me that he intends to “follow up” to make sure that the FBI is aware of 17 cases of hard evidence now in the hands of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

Initially, on September 11, 2015, Osceola Clerk Armando Ramirez sent a letter [ Deputy Attorney General – Ltr Osceola County Clerk ] to the office of Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates, who put out a 7-page press release, declaring her department’s intent to seek out the wrongdoers who personally contributed to the financial collapse of 2008.  It appears that the DOJ is passing the buck to the FBI so the local authorities can now “have a crack at it … as a courtesy”.

The letter that Hon. Ramirez received can be read here: Response from James C. Mann, US Department of Justice

Clearly, the DOJ either doesn’t understand the complexity of things in the scenario presented in the OSCEOLA COUNTY FORENSIC EXAMINATION or they don’t want to touch it with a 10-foot pole (sic).

IMHO … (is it time to trash the response?) …

Paragraph 1 of the DOJ’s response (Ms. Yates herself couldn’t even respond to the complaint of an elected public official; instead she has an “acting deputy” respond) clearly indicates that someone in the DOJ read the letter.  It’s just that whether or not they actually went in and perused the Report itself remains to be seen.

Paragraph 2 of the DOJ’s response appears to placate the Clerk!  The Clerk of the Circuit Court does NOT have a private right of action to file a complaint with the CFPB, which has turned out to be nothing more than a “catch-all toilet” for everyone’s problems.  Like the FTC (another useless acronym in DC), the CFPB only investigates things when thousands of people are affected by the same fraud.  The problem here is … again … as demonstrated in lawsuits filed by Clerks, Recorders and Registers of Deeds across the country against MERS and others deemed to be responsible for the mess does not constitute a private right of action for the Clerk of Osceola County.  I believe this paragraph was placed here to “pass the buck” while placating the Clerk himself for his efforts.  This isn’t “walking the walk”, it’s only “talking the talk”.  But what did you expect?  It’s DC right?

Paragraph 3, even though the intent seems apparent, is more of an insult.  “As a courtesy” could have been restated to say: “I personally have forwarded your correspondence to _____(name of investigator at the Tampa FBI)_____ at the Tampa office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for follow-up.  I have provided him with your contact information and have urged him to contact you as soon as possible.”

Instead, the letter read, as I paraphrase here: “As a courtesy … the DOJ sent your letter to the local FBI office in Tampa … but let us placate you further by saying something obvious that you are well aware of (since you are a former investigator for the New York DA’s office) … that the FBI is relied upon to do fact-finding in federal criminal cases.”  Unless someone contacts the appropriate “person”, nothing gets done.  So the Hon. Ramirez intends to find out WHO in the Tampa FBI office got his correspondence and to set up communications with local officials to get them to look into WHY the Osceola County Sheriff’s Department is sitting on 17 cases of certified documents from the Clerk’s office, yet can find no wrongdoing.

Notice that you (in this letter to the Clerk) have been provided with an address and a contact number to reach out to the Tampa FBI office.  Don’t you think it’s time you came out in support of the Forensic Examination, whether you were directly affected or not, and sent a letter to the FBI (or contacted someone directly affected or mentioned in the Forensic Examination) and started “informing” the FBI of what is going on here?  In other words, I think it’s time the FBI heard from the public! Now that you have a contact number, “reach out and touch someone”!   Until the investigative arm of the DOJ hears full well what is going on here, the results of this Forensic Examination will have fallen on deaf ears. Believe me, once we get the name of the FBI’s contact person in Tampa, they will be hearing from the Clerk and those associated with his commissioned Report.  This Clerk deserves your accolades, your vote this coming November and your follow-up support in making the FBI pay attention to the details of this Report!

As for the DOJ … is this political or what?   Why put out a press release if you’re not even going to “walk the walk”?   Why am I not surprised? (sigh)

The referral to the CFPB will also fall on deaf ears, but this is what happens when the DOJ doesn’t want to address something head-on.  Sadly, Prof. Christopher Peterson (who authored white papers on MERS) and James T. Sugarman (former Assistant AG for the Washington AG’s office who authored the amicus brief in the Bain decision against MERS) AmicusBrief.2012-02-14 were hired away from their positions as “defenders of the homeowner” and enticed with bureaucratic positions in the CFPB (as enforcement chiefs).  Since they’ve gone to DC, I can’t even reach them (and I’ve made phone calls and left messages, which have not been returned). So much for government enforcement, eh?

“And ye shall know them by their fruits …”  Matthew 7:16

The fact that the Mr. Ramirez even received a response, rubber stamped “NOV 25 2015” … flies in the face of complicity because the current Congress is trying to water down the powers of the CFPB while diluting the Dodd-Frank Act.   On the local front, to anyone in Osceola County (or anywhere else in Florida for that matter) whose land records or court cases have been infiltrated with the same phony, manufactured documents … NOW is the time for YOUR voice to be heard … timing is everything.

H/T Clouded Titles
Justia

In 2011, Plaintiff purchased a condominium unit at a condominium association lien foreclosure sale. In 2013, Plaintiff filed suit seeking to quiet title to the unit in his name. Plaintiff also sought declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent a foreclosure by Defendant, the prior owner’s first mortgage holder. The superior court dismissed Plaintiff’s complaint for failure to state a claim, concluding that Plaintiff took title to the property subject to Defendant’s mortgage. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that a condominium foreclosure sale conducted pursuant to the Rhode Island Condominium Act extinguishes a prior-recorded first mortgage on the unit following the mortgagee’s failure to exercise the right of redemption provided for in R.I. Gen. Laws 34-36.1-3.21(c). Remanded.

TITLE OF CASE: Twenty Eleven, LLC v. Michael J. Botelho et al.
CASE NO: No. 2014-10-Appeal.
(KC 13-432)
COURT: Supreme Court
DATE OPINION FILED: December 4, 2015
JUSTICES: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Robinson, and Indeglia, JJ.
WRITTEN BY: Associate Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia
SOURCE OF APPEAL: Kent County Superior Court
JUDGE FROM LOWER COURT:
Associate Justice Stephen P. Nugent
ATTORNEYS ON APPEAL:
For Plaintiff: Frank A. Lombardi, Esq.
For Defendant: Peter F. Carr, III, Esq.

Settlement won by AG Cooper includes cash payments of $2 million, $21.5 million in other relief for NC consumers

Raleigh: Cash payments of nearly $2 million are on the way to approximately 1,400 North Carolina mortgage borrowers who were wrongly foreclosed on by SunTrust, Attorney General Roy Cooper said Friday.

“This is welcome relief for North Carolina families who suffered foreclosures done wrong,” Cooper said.

Eligible North Carolina consumers who had mortgages serviced by SunTrust, lost their homes to foreclosure between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2013, and applied for relief by the June 4, 2015 deadline should receive their payment in early December. Checks of approximately $1,330 each are being mailed to 1,454 affected borrowers in North Carolina starting Friday.

Consumer relief
The cash payments are part of an estimated $23.5 million in relief for North Carolina consumers that also includes loan modifications and lien forgiveness under a settlement with SunTrust that Cooper won last year. Under the settlement, SunTrust has so far forgiven approximately $2.8 million in first liens, extinguished approximately $1.8 million in second liens, and forgiven approximately $2 million in first and second liens to facilitate short sale transactions for North Carolina homeowners.

The help for North Carolinians is part of a $550 million national settlement involving 49 states, the District of Columbia, and several federal officials.

Under the settlement, payments go to consumers who lost their homes to foreclosure due to alleged misconduct by SunTrust that resulted in premature or unauthorized foreclosures, violations of homeowners’ protections, and the use deceptive documents and affidavits. SunTrust is also required to adhere to tougher standards to prevent future foreclosure abuses like robo-signing, improper documentation, and misplaced mortgage and foreclosure paperwork.

Consumers who have questions can contact the settlement administrator toll-free at 1-866-590-8532 or by email at settlementadministrator@nationalSunTrustsettlement.com. Eligible consumers who believe they did not receive a scheduled mailing should contact the settlement administrator directly.

Reforming mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices
Cooper’s settlement with SunTrust is based on the National Mortgage Settlement, which he negotiated in 2012 with five major mortgage servicers: Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. As a result, North Carolina received $338 million for housing counselors, legal help, fraud detection and prosecution, and an additional $33.57 million in cash payments to victims of foreclosure. Last year, Cooper also negotiated a settlement with Ocwen Financial Corporation, worth $2.1 billion nationwide and $26 million in North Carolina.

“Through these agreements we’re holding banks accountable for past problems and preventing future ones,” Cooper said.

Contact:  Noelle Talley
Phone:     919/716-6484

source: http://www.ncdoj.gov/

Think Progress-

Sharon Bell, her husband, and her three teenage children couldn’t even safely walk up the steps to their Baltimore apartment because the staircase was in disrepair. “The last step as you climb up, you had to take a giant step over,” she said. There were water leaks in the bathroom. The roof leaked thanks to a problem with the gutter.

But the landlord either refused to fix the problems or didn’t spend enough to actually get rid of them. He also failed to get the correct permits and inspections for problems like lead paint. So the Bells called upon their legal right in response: rather than keep shelling out rent each month to a landlord who refused to make their apartment habitable, they started putting the rent into an escrow account until the repairs were made. “We kept paying and nothing was getting done, so we decided to hold the rent,” she said. “You don’t want to live in deplorable conditions for what you’re paying.”

But rather than act to fix the building, their landlord took them to rent court.

[THINK PROGRESS]

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FIFTH DISTRICT
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

JUAN FIGUEROA,
Appellant,

v.                                     Case No. 5D14-4078

FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE
ASSOCIATION, ETC., ET AL.,
Appellees.
________________________________/

Opinion filed December 4, 2015

Appeal from the Circuit Court
for Osceola County,

Robert J. Pleus, Jr., Senior Judge.
Melissa Alfonso, of My Law Solution, P.A.,
Orlando, for Appellant.
Nicole R. Ramirez, of eXL LEGAL, PLLC,
St. Petersburg, for Appellee Federal
National Mortgage Association.
No Appearance for other Appellees.
EDWARDS, J.

Juan Figueroa (“Appellant”) appeals the trial court’s entry of an in rem final
judgment of foreclosure in favor of Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie
Mae”). Appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for involuntary
dismissal because Fannie Mae failed to reestablish the lost note, prove its standing to
foreclose on the note, prove the amount owed on the note, and did not prove compliance
with a condition precedent listed in paragraph 22 of the mortgage. No documents were
placed in evidence and the sole witness presented on behalf of Fannie Mae lacked
sufficient knowledge to testify with regard to most of the subjects relevant to trial. As
there is no competent, substantial evidence to support the judgment, we reverse and
order the trial court to involuntarily dismiss the case. We will issue a separate order
granting Appellant’s motion for appellate attorney’s fees and costs.

[…]

U.S. Bank Natl. Assn. v. George, 2015 Ohio 4957
Ohio Court of Appeals

Filed: December 3rd, 2015

Status: Precedential

Citations: 2015 Ohio 4957

Docket Number: 14AP-817

Judges: Brunner

[Cite as U.S. Bank Natl. Assn. v. George, 2015-Ohio-4957.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

TENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

{¶ 32} We agree with the Eighth District’s pronouncement in Lavelle that to
disregard the contradicting copies of the note without proper authentication of current
documentation and explanation of the discrepancies, “would be unjust and would ask this
court to [ignore] the actions of financial institutions who have an obligation to conform
with acceptable business practices and establish an unbroken chain of assignments prior
No. 14AP-817 16

to instituting a foreclosure action.” Id. at ¶ 22. These inconsistencies as a matter of law
effectively rebut appellee’s burden of proof under Civ.R. 56(C).

. . .

{¶ 35} We sustain appellants’ sole assignment of error for the reasons stated in this
decision and reverse the judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas,
thereby denying appellee’s motion for summary judgment and remand this case to the
trial court with instructions to proceed in accordance with this decision.

Judgment reversed and cause remanded with instructions.

EVERY SUNDAY
3:00 PM HAWAII
5:00 PM PACIFIC
8:00 PM EASTERN
ON KHVH-AM
(830 ON THE DIAL)
AND ON
iHEART RADIO

The Hollywood Reporter-

Seventy-seven pages into his 2010 best-seller, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, author Michael Lewis stops to congratulate readers with a “gold star” for getting this far. After all, the detailed analysis of the financial-industry machinations that led to the collapse of the U.S. housing market and the Great Recession (and, arguably, the election of President Obama in 2008) is a whirlwind of such headache-inducing terms as collateralized debt obligations and triple-A tranches woven together by the personal stories of the men who foresaw the implosion and made millions. “Nobody wants to read about credit default swaps,” jokes Lewis today. “And nobody wants to see a movie about that.”

 Nobody except Adam McKay, the former Saturday Night Live head writer turned director of such unserious movies as Anchorman and Step Brothers, who in March 2014 persuaded Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company, Regency and Paramount to let him bring the book to the screen. McKay, 47, co-wrote the script (with Charles Randolph), tackling head-on the complexities of the subject matter and bringing a satirical edge to the material — a funny, angry, Michael Moore-style piece of advocacy in which the entire American financial system is the villain, complete with char­acters talking incredulously to the audience and actress Margot Robbie explaining subprime mortgages while sipping champagne nude in a bathtub. With Steve Carell on board as investor Steve Eisman (whose name is changed in the film), Christian Bale as neurologist turned hedge fund manager Dr. Michael Burry and Ryan Gosling as a composite character based on Deutsche Bank trader Greg Lippmann, the $28 million film came together in January (Pitt took a small role as an angel investor, and Marisa Tomei, Melissa Leo, Finn Wittrock and many others round out a deep cast). In one of the faster turnaround times for a studio movie, The Big Short was ready for its well-received premiere Nov. 12, ahead of a Dec. 11 release and a spot in this season’s awards race.

[THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER]

DBR-

The owner of the Law Offices of Elizabeth R. Wellborn confirmed Tuesday that she is closing her Deerfield Beach foreclosure law office after 12 years of litigating creditors’ rights.

“We are going to wind this down as quickly as possible,” Elizabeth Wellborn said, adding that the market is gravitating to larger firms. “Small businesses are being squeezed out. We were the largest female one in the country.”

Wellborn said under the advice of her attorneys that she could not give further details. She said she has notified the Florida Bar. The firm’s online home page is working, but the links are disabled.

Read more: http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/id=1202743289920/Foreclosure-Law-Firm-Shuts-Down-in-Deerfield-Beach#ixzz3tJ1wfJED

© 2010-19 FORECLOSURE FRAUD | by DinSFLA. All rights reserved.

MY AGC-

Three metro Atlanta counties claim in a lawsuit that Bank of America and related companies resorted to abusive mortgage lending practices that targeted black and Latino homeowners.

They seek “hundreds of millions of dollars” in damages to offset lost tax revenue and other public costs they claim stemmed from the practices.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, is one of several such suits across the nation that counties and cities have filed against major banking companies since the 2007-2009 real estate crash.

[MY AGC]

H/T Dave Krieger

Pickens Progress-

Under a ruling today by the Supreme Court of Georgia, the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Inc. has won the right to have a jury decide whether the foreclosure sale of its homeless shelter in downtown Atlanta was illegal.
A number of people and organizations have tried to get the Task Force evicted from the building at the corner of Pine and Peachtree streets on the grounds that the Task Force has failed to make payments on the property and is merely “warehousing” homeless people. Among numerous claims brought by the Task Force against numerous defendants, the claim of wrongful foreclosure is one of several that are key to the Task Force’s case.
In today’s unanimous decision, written by Justice Robert Benham, while the Task Force has won some of its claims, it has lost others in a complex and contentious case that has been tied up in litigation for years.
At issue in this appeal are two earlier orders by the Fulton County Superior Court: one that lifted a stay and allowed eviction proceedings against the Task Force to begin, and the other which stated that the majority of the remaining issues raised by the Task Force should be decided by a jury, including whether the foreclosure sale was unlawful and whether the evidence shows a conspiracy against the Task Force and improper interference in its relationships with various public and private funding sources.
Since the time this appeal was filed in the state Supreme Court, attorneys for the Task Force have won a “plea in abatement” – essentially another stay – that prohibits any attempt to evict the Task Force from the property until the litigation is complete. The Georgia Court of Appeals recently upheld that ruling.

[PICKENS PROGRESS]

QUIET TITLE WORKSHOP REDONDO BEACH, CALIFORNIA!

Saturday and Sunday, January 30-31, 2016

LEARN ALL THE DETAILS ABOUT QUIET TITLE ACTIONS AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM!
with Clouded Titles author Dave Krieger

Featuring California Quiet Title Superlawyer AL WEST, Esq.

THIS IS A 2-DAY PARALEGAL-ATTORNEY EDUCATIONAL EVENT RECOMMENDED FOR ATTORNEYS, PARALEGALS, INVESTORS AND HOMEOWNERSWHO WISH TO SHARE THIS INVALUABLE INFORMATION WITH THEIR ATTORNEYS!

QT WORKSHOP FLYER_REDONDO BEACH

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NY Post-

Federal prosecutors are said to be preparing to bring criminal charges against Adam Siegel, a top trader at the Royal Bank of Scotland, for allegedly manipulating the price of complex debt securities, The Post has learned.

Deirdre M. Daly, Connecticut’s top federal prosecutor, is building a case against Siegel and RBS, which used to house its bond trading unit in Stamford, for lying to purchasers — such as hedge funds — about how much the bank paid for bundles of debt, two sources familiar with the investigation told The Post.

Siegel, who headed the securitized debt trading desk at RBS, left the bank last year after being put on leave. He later worked for hedge fund Fortress Investment Group, but no longer is employed at the company or any of its affiliates, Gordon Runté, a Fortress spokesman, told The Post.

[NEW YORK POST]

H/T Gary Dubin

Courthouse News-

It is not too late for a man to sue after his Citibank account was frozen while the bank tried to collect another customer’s debt, the Second Circuit ruled on Monday.

The case stems from a April 25, 2003, judgment that Citibank subsidiary New Century Financial Services landed against a man by the name of Andrew Benzemann.

Citibank used that Manhattan Supreme Court judgment a little more than five years later to justify freezing the account of Alexander Benzemann.

[COURTHOUSE NEWS]

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
____________________

August Term, 2015

(Argued: August 20, 2015 Decided: November 16, 2015)

Docket No. 14?2668?cv

____________________

ALEXANDER A. BENZEMANN,

Plaintiff?Appellant,
v.

CITIBANK N.A., HOUSLANGER & ASSOCIATES, PLLC,
TODD E. HOUSLANGER, AND NEW CENTURY FINANCIAL SERVICES,
Defendants?Appellees.*

____________________

Before: CABRANES, POOLER, and CHIN, Circuit Judges.

Appeal from a June 27, 2014 judgment of the United States District Court
for the Southern District of New York (Buchwald, J.), dismissing Plaintiff?
Appellant Alexander 1 A. Benzemann’s claims under the Fair Debt Collections
Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Due Process Clause of
the Fourteenth Amendment, and state law. In this opinion, we address the
district court’s dismissal of the FDCPA claim as untimely. We hold that an
FDCPA violation “occurs” for the purposes of the FDCPA’s statute?of?limitations
provision when a bank freezes a debtor’s bank account, not when a debt collector
sends a restraining notice to the bank. Given this holding, Benzemann’s FDCPA
claim may be timely. Accordingly, we vacate the district court’s dismissal of the
FDCPA and state law claims and remand for further proceedings consistent with
this opinion. In a summary order issued simultaneously with this opinion, we
affirm the district court’s dismissal of Benzemann’s other claims.

[…]