On April 23, 2012, the plaintiff in State of Ohio ex rel. David P. Joyce, Prosecuting Attorney of Geauga County Ohio v. MERSCORP, Inc., et al., N.D. Ohio Case No. 1:11-cv-02474, filed its motion seeking an order certifying the action as a class action, appointing Geauga County as class representative, and appointing plaintiff’s counsel, the New York law firm of Bernstein Liebhard LLP, as class counsel. The plaintiff argues that the case, which the plaintiff is attempting to bring on behalf of all 88 Ohio counties for relief relating to the allegedly unlawful failure of MERS and its member institutions to record millions of mortgages and mortgage assignments throughout Ohio, meets all requirements of Rule 23(a) and that certification is proper under any one of the 3 subsections of Rule 23(b). The plaintiff hopes to persuade the court that the MERS/member institution policy concerning recordation of mortgages and assignments is a “common scheme or course of conduct” that has given rise to claims “ideally suited for class certification.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to be filing charges related to the sale of mortgage-linked securities against more Wall Street firms. These should hopefully conclude the various probes arising out of the financial meltdown, at least in the near term.
“It’s fair to say we’re not at the end,” said Kenneth Lench, chief of the structured and new products unit in the SEC enforcement division in a recent interview with the Financial Times. “There will be a handful of additional cases, I believe, over the next several months.”
The news will affect all the banks (NYSEARCA:KBE) involved in the mortgage debacle: …
Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) — Banks continue to cancel foreclosure hearings and sales in Florida, the U.S. state with the highest foreclosure rate behind Nevada and Arizona, after Bank of America Corp. said it was resuming efforts to seize homes.
Banks had called off about a third of their foreclosure- judgment hearings and more than half of their auctions at two Florida courthouses as of this morning, according to court records and personnel. Court administrators said rules mandating that homeowners be notified mean that foreclosures won’t resume in earnest for at least a month.
Bank of America and Detroit-based Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit said they were moving to complete pending foreclosures following complaints that home seizures nationwide were based on faulty documentation. Attorneys general in all 50 states, as well as federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Justice, are investigating.
GMAC said it is reviewing foreclosure cases that potentially have defective affidavits in the 23 states that use judicial proceedings for foreclosures, including Florida. If there are problems, they will be fixed and the cases then allowed to proceed, said Gina Proia, a spokeswoman for GMAC. Any case going to foreclosure sale in non-judicial states will also be reviewed, she said in an interview.
‘Ongoing Process’
“It’s an ongoing process and we expect the majority will be completed by the end of the year,” Proia said. In Palm Beach County, banks had canceled 139 out of 213 foreclosure auctions scheduled for today, according to court records. Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America were among those listed as canceling the sales.
Kenneth Eric Trent, P.A. of Broward County has amended the Class Action complaint Figueroa v. MERSCORP, Inc. et al filed on July 26, 2010 in the Southern District of Florida.
Included in the amended complaint is MERS shareholders HSBC, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Company, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, WAMU, Countrywide, GMAC, Guaranty Bank, Merrill Lynch, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), Norwest, Bank of America, Everhome, American Land Title, First American Title, Corinthian Mtg, MGIC Investor Svc, Nationwide Advantage, Stewart Title, CRE Finance Council f/k/a Commercial Mortgage Securities Association, Suntrust Mortgage, CCO Mortgage Corporation, PMI Mortgage Insurance Company, Wells Fargo and also DJS Processing which is owned by David J. Stern.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The mortgage chief of the United States’ second largest bank was mobbed by angry borrowers on Tuesday after he invited customers to speak to him if they feared foreclosure of their homes.
The JPMorgan Chase & Co executive was at a congressional hearing in Washington when a lawmaker asked him who mortgage borrowers could turn to if they felt his bank’s employees were not helping them hold onto their homes.
“Come to me,” said David Lowman, chief executive for JPMorgan Chase & Co’s home mortgage business in response to the question from Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank.
Minutes later, around 50 borrowers burst from the audience and presented Lowman with a 6-page document alleging his bank reneged on a pledge to help struggling homeowners.
The activist who organized the protest said Lowman did not want to talk and left the hearing.
“He ran. He ran like a dog with its tail between his legs,”said Bruce Marks of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), which helps homeowners avoid foreclosure. “He was scared to death because he doesn’t really want to talk to homeowners.”
The incident is symptomatic of frustrations among U.S. homeowners as defaults and foreclosure filings dominate the housing sector more than three years after the property bubble began to deflate.
NACA organizes events where borrowers try to get loan modifications with lenders. The group says JPMorgan signed up to the NACA program but dropped out in December.
A JPMorgan spokesman declined to comment on the complaint.
(Reporting by Corbett Daly, additional reporting by Al Yoon; writing by Andrew Hay)
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