Several families at the Wikiup Manufactured Home Community in Henderson, located in unincorporated Adams County, are facing evictions due to allegedly not following common guidelines.

Less than a month ago, CBS Colorado shared Tomasa Hernandez’s story. She was asked to remove her fence surrounding her home — a fence she says was there before she even started renting there — among other requests.

The issue is she says she doesn’t speak English, she did not understand the demands from management and the lease is under her husband’s name who is currently sick. She has expressed new management has refused to speak to her on various occasions due to her name not being on the lease. So when she did not comply, Hernandez and her husband received a court summons, which she also did not fully understand. After missing a court date, she was served an eviction notice. Her eviction was set for Sept. 27, and that’s when the community rallied to help keep her in her home.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/wikiup-manufactured-home-community-henderson-adams-county/

An effort to prohibit landlords from evicting residential tenants without “just cause” met an unceremonious end in the last days of Colorado’s 2023 legislative session.

House Bill 1171 would have only allowed evictions or lease terminations if the tenant does something wrong, such as failing to pay rent or violating lease agreements. It would have also required landlords to give 90 days’ notice and pay tenants two to three months’ worth of rent to evict or terminate leases in no-fault circumstances, like for landlords to renovate the property or to move in themselves.

Critics countered the bill was too harsh on landlords and would push them out of the rental market. They also said treating the decision not to renew a lease as an eviction forces landlords into endless leases, and the 90-day notice for terminating leases makes single-month leases functionally impossible to enforce.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/legislature/just-cause-evictions/article_eaff0ede-ef80-11ed-8ace-4375f83fc07b.html

The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday rejected a lower court’s interpretation of the law that could have encouraged mortgage lenders to foreclose more quickly on homeowners exiting bankruptcy, calling the effects of such a ruling “perverse.”

The issue before the justices was what effect a homeowner’s discharge from bankruptcy has on the timeline for banks to foreclose, assuming there are no more payments on mortgage. Under Colorado law, a lender has six years to initiate a foreclosure after a payment becomes due.

But when someone exits bankruptcy and no longer has the obligation to make mortgage payments, does the entire mortgage become due then?

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/courts/colorado-supreme-court-rejects-speedy-foreclosure-timeline-for-bankruptcies/article_586170a8-e378-11ed-97cb-df61fd3818a9.html

LOVELAND — Owners of soon-to-be displaced small, private aircraft at Northern Colorado Regional Airport have staved off eviction for at least a month so airport officials can get a second opinion on the safety of 58 hangars scheduled to be decommissioned and razed.

Following a presentation by hangar tenant Rick Turley on behalf of other aircraft owners, Northern Colorado Regional Airport commissioners voted Thursday to halt lease terminations for hangars A, B, and two C hangars while airport leaders order a more thorough structural analysis.

Hangars A and B, the oldest of the group, were to be decommissioned by May 10, and hangar C by July 10, after an engineering report said the airport’s four westernmost hangars had outlived their lifespan, were irreparable and could not be retrofitted to meet current building codes. The report made the assessment after viewing select units that were assumed to be representative of all hangars.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.coloradoan.com/story/money/business/2023/03/20/northern-colorado-regional-airport-delays-eviction-of-private-planes/70015765007/

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jeffrey Kim, 51, of Colorado, pleaded guilty today to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between Feb. 1, 2017, and July 24, 2017, Kim participated in a nationwide check kiting “bust out” scheme in order to obtain cash from banks. The scheme’s participants obtained a real Republic of Korea passport that was altered to bear a new photograph and name, which they used to open bank accounts with a small amount of cash. The accounts were dormant until a time the participants believed the bank would allow the account holder to deposit a check and make withdrawals before the check actually cleared. At that time, the participants wrote checks from a different bank account with non-sufficient funds, deposited those checks into the dormant account, and then withdrew cash from the dormant account before the checks cleared. The participants would access funds by purchasing a money order and then deposit the money order into yet another bank account associated with the scheme.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/colorado-man-pleads-guilty-bust-out-bank-fraud-scheme-sacramento-area-and-elsewhere

Homeowners associations in Colorado will be prohibited from seeking foreclosures against homeowners based solely on fines, and they will have to adhere to a cap on those fines.

Gov. Jared Polis signed HB22-1137 into law on Friday to set these limits on homeowners associations to avoid future large-scale foreclosures over escalating fines and fees like those in Green Valley Ranch.

“No homeowner should find themselves in foreclosure just because of a minor fee or a fine that’s been assessed by their HOA,” said Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat and bill sponsor.

Gonzales said she encourages both homeowners and HOA boards to learn about the law, which she said is not difficult to comply with.

“In Montbello and in Aurora as well, we’ve seen these bad actors who have really deeply affected … many, many families through setting up these foreclosure processes,” Gonzales said.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.brushnewstribune.com/2022/06/07/green-valley-ranch-hoa-homeowner-protections-colorado-law-legislature/

On a December morning at the Boulder County Justice Center, tenants waited hours to appear in eviction court. More than two dozen cases crowded the day’s docket.

The stress of waiting, and potential eviction, pounded through Jovani’s head as he sat outside courtroom C. The 38-year-old was supposed to be at work, but leaving before he appeared in front of the judge meant he would almost certainly lose his case — and his home.

He texted his boss that he would be late.

“This is such a headache,” Jovani told CPR. He asked to only be identified by first name out of fear of losing his housing.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.cpr.org/2022/01/04/colorado-eviction-cases-december-pandemic/

About one in five Colorado respondents have slight or no confidence they can make the next month’s rent, according to U.S. Census survey data from the pandemic

A new state law that takes effect Friday confers several new rights upon renters. Here are the main changes brought by SB21-173:

• If a landlord files for an eviction due to nonpayment but a tenant comes up with the full amount owed before a court signs off on the eviction, the landlord must accept the money and the eviction is cancelled. Previously, there’s been a 10-day “cure” period for tenants to resolve outstanding debts, but now there is no particular deadline.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/10/01/tenant-rights-colorado-new-laws-landlord/

hen her tenants lost their jobs or saw their income plunge early in the pandemic, Karen Arnold had a heart — and a curious mind. She reduced their rents and continued to work with them for the rest of the year. Then she heard about a Colorado assistance program that provided rent payments to landlords and tenants. She researched it and helped them apply.

“One of my tenants was approved on April 26 for rent for four months” of payments, said Arnold, who rents out two townhouses in Denver and Aurora and inherited four more when her mother died last year. “On June 9, I received an email that said ‘Congratulations, you’ll be getting your money in one to two weeks.’”

They’re still waiting — nearly seven weeks later. But Arnold hasn’t given up hounding the state’s Division of Housing for the help it promised.

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://coloradosun.com/2021/07/28/colorado-rent-assistance-fraud-eviction-moratorium/

The violent combination of one of America’s worst economic downturns, combined with unregulated primary and subsidiary loans, and the collapse of the housing bubble contributed to the country’s record domestic foreclosures, with Colorado no exception.

Many Colorado people face economic difficulties due to job losses, medical expenses, and credit card debt. You might even be late when you pay for your mortgage. Failure is going to help you save your house, remove your debt, and raise your loan.

If you fall behind your mortgage, there’s a forfeiture notice that gives you a quick response period. If a notice of eviction is issued in Colorado, it will take a few weeks before you are expelled. If you have to sell your home, the home will be sold at an auction, far less likely than your mortgage. This is referred to as the sum of the error since the lender is legitimately suing you for the value of the sum that you (in writing) have agreed to pay less for the home price.

Most homeowners in Colorado leave their homes because they owe more to their homes or do not have enough money to pay the mortgage (due to job losses, divorces, medical costs, and high monthly expenses). Even though they were trying to hit the ends, many were unable to save their homes. In this case, take the following action:

1. Section 13 Forbids the bankruptcy of second and third mortgages;
2. Cure mortgage arrears by requiring the borrower, by filing Chapter 13, to pay the mortgage deficit for a period of three to five years;
3. Negotiation of a transition in the loan or forbearance agreement
4. Adversarial litigation against lenders violate the Lender Act, predatory loans, and other government and federal consumer protection legislation.

For the best option to save your home, do well to contact a lawyer, who will be able to give you the advice that will favor your situation.

The Denver Post-

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that foreclosure lawyers are not debt collectors, ending a Colorado man’s years-long effort to gut the state’s century-old public trustee foreclosure system.

As such, the attorneys representing Wells Fargo Bank in its efforts to foreclose on Dennis Obduskey’s home in Bailey are not subject to comply with a broad array of consumer protections mandated by the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, such as proving the bank actually has the right to foreclose.

The 9-0 decision in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP primarily keeps intact nonjudicial foreclosure processes that occur in Colorado and 32 other states.

“My interest was not screwing up the law for the entire country,” Obduskey told The Denver Post in a telephone interview shortly after the court’s opinion was released. “But I’m unfazed in my commitment to ultimately fix this problem.”

[THE DENVER POST]

Denver Post-

The Colorado attorney general’s office was so haphazard and reckless in its failed pursuit to prove former foreclosure king Larry Castle and his law firm had defrauded thousands of consumers that a judge has ordered it to pay his attorneys’ tab – an amount that easily could toll into the millions of dollars.

Denver District Judge Morris Hoffman on Tuesday said Attorney General Cynthia Coffman “was wrong to bring and pursue most of this case” against Castle, his former law firm, The Castle Law Group, and two other associated businesses caught up in the investigation. He said the civil lawsuit the state filed was “substantially groundless and substantially frivolous” enough to merit the award of the defendants’ attorneys’ fees.

“The evidence, or lack of evidence, at trial was nothing short of breathtaking, especially compared to the investigative build-up and the serious and pervasive allegations in the complaint,” Hoffman wrote in a far-ranging, 20-page opinion. “The case (the state) put on wasn’t even a sick relative of the robust allegations they made. … Their 40-page, 217-paragraph complaint reads more like a press release than a complaint.”

[DENVER POST]

The Denver Post-

Colorado’s attorney general’s office says former foreclosure attorney Larry Castle, his wife and two businesses in which he allegedly held a financial interest should have to pay $16 million to $26 million if the state wins its long-running lawsuit against them.

The amount could grow even larger if a Denver district court judge sides with Colorado and awards the state its legal fees for an investigation and lawsuit that’s taken more than five years to complete.

In a 12-page document filed in Denver District Court, Colorado Senior Assistant Attorney General Erik Neusch lays out millions of dollars in fines, “unjust profits,” and illegitimate gains the state says Castle, his law firm and other associated enterprises pocketed over a seven-year period.

[THE DENVER POST]

9NEWS-

Colorado’s Attorney General says she has won a procedural victory in a case that allows her to go after a firm she says inflated foreclosure costs on Colorado homebuyers.

Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said in a statement today that in the case State vs. The Castle Law Group, the Colorado Supreme Court held that she can introduce critical evidence at trial to demonstrate allegations that the Castle Law Firm used affiliated businesses to artificially inflate foreclosure-related costs.

Coffman alleges that the Tennesse-based Castle Law Group and its principals, in concert with affiliated foreclosure-related businesses, systematically charged inflated and deceptive costs for routine services necessary to complete home foreclosures, while falsely representing that those costs were “actual, reasonable and necessary.”

[9NEWS]

The Denver Post-

Homeowners victimized by a law firm’s alleged overcharging of foreclosure fees are receiving restitution of $7.7 million.

The money comes from an enforcement action against the Denver firm of Aronowitz & Mecklenburg LLP, initiated by the Colorado Attorney General’s office.

A lawsuit filed last year by regulators alleges that principals in Colorado’s two largest foreclosure law firms — Aronowitz & Mecklenburg and Castle Law Group, plus some smaller firms — inflated fees charged to homeowners who were trying to save their homes from foreclosure proceedings.

Aronowitz & Mecklenburg agreed to settle the lawsuit without admitting guilt. Castle Law Group is fighting the charges.

[THE DENVER POST]

A little behind times as we all know most Mills own or control their own title companies.

Denver Post-

State investigators digging into Colorado attorneys who controlled the bulk of the business during the foreclosure crisis are taking a closer look at a title insurance company with ties to those law firms.

In a Denver District Court filing, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office said a company with connections to former foreclosure powerhouse Lawrence Castle “might be improperly charging an additional $175 for title commitments” it never actually issued to consumers.

In a related development, Castle said in a separate court filing for the same case that he’s considering suing state investigators for allegedly causing federal mortgage agencies to dump his law firm from handling its cases, effectively forcing the state’s biggest foreclosure processor to close shop.

[DENVER POST]

Reuters-

Colorado’s Attorney General John Suthers has sued two more law firms in the state for fraud, accusing them of inflating foreclosure costs charged to homeowners, his office said.

As part of an ongoing investigation, Suthers has filed eight civil law enforcement actions against Colorado foreclosure law firms in 2014, five of which resulted in settlements totaling nearly $12 million.

The firms targeted earlier this year included the state’s two largest, which were accused of defrauding homeowners, investors and taxpayers by grossly hiking costs and padding bills with unauthorized expenses.

[REUTERS]

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

AmeriKa has a serious problem with their investigations and these settlements are not going to stop them.

Denver Post-

Three prominent Denver law firms have agreed to pay more than $1.7 million to settle state allegations that they intentionally inflated foreclosure costs on hundreds of properties statewide.

The settlements are the result of lawsuits filed by outgoing Attorney General John Suthers, the aftermath of a two-year investigation into alleged foreclosure fraud by law firms in Colorado that began following a number of Denver Post stories about the industry.

The investigation has already taken on the state’s biggest foreclosure outfits — The Castle Law Group, which continues to fight the case, and Aronowitz & Mecklenburg, which paid $10 million to settle and agreed to close.

In the latest cases quietly filed last week, attorney Michael Medved and Tracie Castanon, the business manager at The Law Firm of Michael Medved, agreed to pay $1 million — without admitting wrongdoing — to settle allegations that they followed the lead of the state’s biggest foreclosure law firms and overcharged some of their costs to handle foreclosure cases, according to copies of the settlement filed in Denver District Court.

Another $350,000 was set aside to ensure compliance.

[DENVER POST]

DENVER — Colorado Attorney General John Suthers today announced the filing of civil law enforcement actions against the two largest foreclosure law firms in Colorado.  In separate filings, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section charged The Castle Law Group, its principals and affiliated foreclosure-related businesses, as well as Aronowitz & Mecklenburg, its principals and affiliated foreclosure-related businesses with violating the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, the Colorado Antitrust Act, and the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The Attorney General filed a simultaneous proposed Final Consent Judgment settling the case against the Aronowitz defendants.

“These lawsuits come at the end of a lengthy and exhaustive investigation into allegedly fraudulent billing practices by these firms that inflated foreclosure costs,” said Attorney General John Suthers. “These inflated costs were passed on to homeowners trying to save their homes from foreclosure, successful bidders for properties at foreclosure sales, and to investors and taxpayers. The facts uncovered by our investigation are very disturbing and, frankly, reflect poorly on the legal profession.”

The complaints, filed in Denver District Court, allege that these law firms, and their principals, conspired to charge fraudulent and inflated costs for posting of two statutorily-mandated notices on the homes of borrower’s facing foreclosure, and used affiliated companies to run up the costs of title products used in the foreclosures. The complaints also allege that these firms improperly and deceptively tacked on additional charges as “costs” for tasks already compensated by the maximum allowable fee paid to the law firm by the investor.

In the proposed Final Consent Judgment with the Aronowitz defendants, the law firm and its principals agree that, with the exception of some title business that they must operate at competitive market rates, to have no direct or indirect ownership interest in any law firm or other business engaged in foreclosure-related work in the State of Colorado for a period of nine years, and to pay the state $10 million in unjust enrichment, civil penalties, and the state’s costs and attorney fees. An additional $3 million in civil penalties is to be suspended pending compliance with the Final Consent Judgment. The court must approve that settlement before it becomes effective.

Investigations by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office of other Colorado foreclosure law firms and related businesses are ongoing.

#  #  #

Attachments:

News Release

Castle Complaint

Aronowitz Complaint

Aronowitz Proposed Final Consent Judgment

Aronowitz Joint Motion for Consent Judgment

.

Source: http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov

Negative headlines included claims of foreclosure fee-padding–  EMAILS | Foreclosure Law Firms indicate collusion to control foreclosure billing

HW-

Fannie Mae is not going to send its foreclosure business to two specific law firms in Colorado, effective immediately, the government-sponsored enterprise can confirm.

“Fannie Mae has instructed servicers to cease referrals of new foreclosure cases to Aronowitz & Mecklenburg and the Castle Law Group and to transfer existing cases at those law firms to other firms,” said Fannie Mae spokesperson Keosha Burns.

The GSE would not comment on why it so suddenly terminated its relationship with both firms.

[HOUSING WIRE]

Colorado:  Follow-up – McDonald v. OneWest case.

To better understand a case is to read, read, read.  The series of complaints (amended) in this case is a good
example of language for Colorado cases in these regards. 

It is not enough to simply regale over the opinions – studying the documents that were initially filed is where all the valuable lessons are – wins and losses!  Read the losses to learn what to avoid and the good on what to expound upon.

BE SURE TO CAREFULLY REVIEW EVERY EXHIBIT . . .A LOT OF VALUABLE INFO CAN BE GLEANED FROM
THE EXHIBITS!

McDonald v Onewest CMP

McDonald v OneWest – Amd Cmp-Exhibits

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