Just a quick all-points bulletin, and please excuse my use of this space to make up for research failures. I’m working on a pair of corruption stories and I’m looking for people who may have ended up having consumer problems with certain companies. I’m particularly interested in people from central and northern New Jersey. So I’m looking for people who had either of the following issues:
• Problems with a Chase credit card (or a Chase-related card, like for instance a Circuit City card). Especially if you had, or know someone who had, a court judgment over a delinquent Chase account, please drop me a note.
• A foreclosure involving a home loan originally issued by the now-defunct New Century Co.
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS EASTERN DIVISION
IN RE: DOUGLAS CROMWELL, JR. AND MARY CROMWELL, DEBTORS. ___________________________________ DOUGLAS CROMWELL JR. AND MARY CROMWELL, PLAINTIFFS,
v.
COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS, INC. AND MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC., DEFENDANTS. __________________________
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION
I. INTRODUCTION The matters before the Court are the Second Amended Complaint (the “Complaint”) filed by Douglas Cromwell, Jr., and Mary Cromwell (collectively, the “Debtors”) against Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. (“Countrywide”) and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”) (jointly, the “Defendants”) alleging violations of the Massachusetts Consumer Credit Cost Disclosure Act1 (the “CCCDA”), as well as the Debtors’ Objection to Proof of Claim filed by Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. (the “Objection to Claim”) and the Objection to Confirmation of Second Amended Chapter 13 Plan (the “Objection to Confirmation”) filed by Countrywide. Through their Complaint, the Debtors seek, inter alia, rescission of a refinancing transaction and a declaration that the mortgage granted by them to MERS, as nominee for Countrywide, is void and that they have no tender obligation as a condition to effectuate the rescission.2 In the Objection to Claim, they, in turn, contend that Countrywide’s claim is now unsecured in light of the Debtors’ purported rescission. The Defendants dispute the Debtors’ allegations in the Complaint and object to the Debtors’ Chapter 13 plan on the basis that they propose to treat Countrywide’s claim as unsecured. For the reasons set forth below, I will enter judgment in favor of the Debtors and order them to file a fee application within thirty days, sustain the Objection to Claim, and overrule the Objection to Confirmation.3
American Banker did an outstanding, superb job with this article. Please read.
American Banker-
Some of the largest mortgage servicers are still fabricating documents that should have been signed years ago and submitting them as evidence to foreclose on homeowners.
The practice continues nearly a year after the companies were caught cutting corners in the robo-signing scandal and about six months after the industry began negotiating a settlement with state attorneys general investigating loan-servicing abuses.
Several dozen documents reviewed by American Banker show that as recently as August some of the largest U.S. banks, including Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Ally Financial Inc., and OneWest Financial Inc., were essentially backdating paperwork necessary to support their right to foreclose.
Scott Anderson
Deutsche Bank National Trust Co.
Law Offices of Marshall Watson
New Century Mortgage Corp.
Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC
Action Date: October 21, 2010
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
On October 21, 2010, in St. Petersburg, Florida, Circuit Court Judge Anthony Rondolino dismissed the plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint in a foreclosure action, Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., et al. v. Donnie J. Decker, et al., Case No. 09-20548-CI-13, 6th Judicial Circuit, in and for Pinellas County, Florida.
The complaint was brought by Deutsche Bank as trustee for a mortgage-backed trust, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Capital, Inc., under a Pooling & Servicing Agreement dated May 1, 2001. The original complaint was dismissed due to chain-of-title problems.
The amended complaint included an Assignment from New Century Mortgage Corp. to the plaintiff that was executed on February 17, 2010 by Scott Anderson in his capacity as an Executive Vice President of Residential Loan Servicing for Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC through its authority as Attorney-In-Fact for New Century Mortgage Corporation. Regarding this Assignment, Judge Rondolino commented as follows:
“There is nothing about this assignment which would support a determination at the pleading stage that it is invalid. On the other hand, should evidence be presented at a summary judgment hearing that New Century Mortgage Corporation, LLC became the subject of a bankruptcy proceeding which resulted in a liquidation order, the validity of this assignment would be called into question. Then, absent specific proof that Ocwen had authority from either the bankruptcy court or the liquidation trustee, this disposition of New Century’s (the debtor in bankruptcy) asset there would be a disputed material fact precluding a summary judgment. These concerns however are not ripe at this time…”
In closing, Judge Rondolino warned the plaintiff and its counsel, the Law Offices of Marshall Watson, that any new complaint must be verified, in accordance with the revised Florida Rules of Civil Procedure.
Judge Rondolino then warned very plainly, “If it is thereafter determined that the verification was not based on an appropriate investigation or that the allegations were false, the Plaintiff and the person who signed the verified complaint will be subject to sanctions which may include dismissal of the action with prejudice, assessment of fees and costs, monetary or incarcerative sanctions and referral to the State Attorney for prosecution pursuant to F.S. 837.”
Rondolino’s concerns arose in part because the Assignment came after the foreclosure action was filed. Plaintiff’s law firm is one of four law firms under investigation by the Florida Attorney General for using forged and fraudulent documents in foreclosure actions.
Scott Anderson of Ocwen has been named in foreclosure opinions of Brooklyn Judge Arthur M. Schack as an individual who signs using many different job titles. The trust in this case had a closing date in 2001, but according to the Anderson Assignment, acquired Decker’s non-performing loan in February, 2010. These same or similar facts have been presented in hundreds of foreclosure cases across the country.
Almost every major robo-signer, including Liquenda Allotey, China Brown, Linda Green, Alfonzo Greene, Korell Harp, Bethany Hood and John Kennerty have signed as Attorney-In-Fact for New Century Mortgage Corporation in 2009 and 2010 to transfer mortgages to securitized trusts that closed years earlier.
Judge Rondolino’s opinion lays a blueprint for other judges to follow when presented with mortgage assignments that appear to have been specially created to facilitate foreclosures. It is the first opinion in Florida to warn of possible “incarcerative sanctions.” (Five different versions of the “Scott Anderson” signature are posted in the “Pleadings” section of this web site.)
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