HW-

Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, is now also the parent company of MERSCORP Holdings, as the companies announced Friday that ICE has acquired all of MERS.

The deal comes just over two years after ICE acquired a majority stake in MERSCORP, the owner of Mortgage Electronic Registrations Systems and operator of the MERS System, a national electronic registry that tracks the changes in servicing rights and beneficial ownership interests in U.S.-based mortgages.

Now, ICE owns all of MERS after acquiring the remaining stake in the company for an undisclosed sum.

[HW]

Mark Stopa, the subject of a criminal investigation in Florida, saw his firm Stay In My Home file for bankruptcy.

Sedgwick isn’t the only law firm to file for bankruptcy this week.

Stay In My Home, P.A., the St. Petersburg, Florida-based firm of prominent foreclosure lawyer Mark Stopa, took the plunge by beginning Chapter 7 proceedings in Tampa on Oct. 2. Stopa was suspended indefinitely from practicing law this summer by the Florida Supreme Court, which found that he had violated professional conduct rules.

In late August, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement raided the offices of Stopa’s firm. State agents said Stopa was the subject of a criminal investigation into “equity skimming,” or essentially improperly acquiring client assets. The Tampa Bay Times, citing records subpoenaed by law enforcement officials, reported last week that Stopa had earned $4.8 million between Jan. 1, 2011 and April 1, 2018, via payments from individuals at properties controlled by his companies.

[LAW.COM]

EVERY SUNDAY
3:00 PM HAWAII 
6:00 PM PACIFIC
9:00 PM EASTERN
ON KHVH-AM
(830 ON THE DIAL)
AND ON
iHEART RADIO

RUSH VITALIY, A/K/A RUSH VITALY, Appellant,
v.
WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., AS TRUSTEE FOR THE POOLING AND SERVICING AGREEMENT DATED AS OF NOVEMBER 1 2004 ASSET-BACKED PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES SERIES 2004-WHQ2, JOULIA VITALIY AND ARGENT MORTGAGE CO, Appellees.

Latasha Scott, of Lord Scott, Tampa, and Richard J. Mockler, of Stay in My Home, P.A., St. Petersburg, for Appellant.

W. Bard Brockman, and Christian J. Bromley, of Bryan Cave LLP, Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellee, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as Trustee for the Pooling and Servicing Agreement Dated as of November 1, 2004 Asset-Backed Pass-Through Certificates Series 2004-WHQ2.

No Appearance for other Appellees.

PER CURIAM.

We reverse the final judgment of foreclosure entered in favor of Appellee, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., against Appellant, Rush Vitaliy. In his answer to Appellee’s foreclosure complaint, Appellant alleged that Appellee failed to provide him with the notice of default letter required by paragraph 22 of the mortgage. At trial, Appellee attempted to prove compliance with paragraph 22; however, the court sustained Appellant’s objection that the proffered evidence was hearsay. At the conclusion of Appellee’s case, Appellant moved for an involuntary dismissal based on Appellee’s failure to prove that it actually mailed a default letter to Appellant. The trial court denied Appellant’s motion and entered final judgment in favor of Appellee.

At best, Appellee’s evidence proved only that Appellee prepared a default letter addressed to Appellant; however, there was no proof that the default letter was actually mailed. Thus, Appellee failed to prove that it complied with paragraph 22 of the mortgage. See Madl v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 244 So. 3d 1134, 1137 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017). Accordingly, the trial court erred by denying Appellant’s motion for involuntary dismissal and for entering judgment in favor of Appellee. We reverse the final judgment and remand to the trial court with instructions to enter an order involuntarily dismissing the case.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

COHEN, C.J., EDWARDS and GROSSHANS, JJ., concur.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED.

WAPO-

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday unveiled legislation that would place a hard cap on the size of financial institutions, a proposal that would splinter Wall Street’s biggest firms in an effort to ward off future taxpayer bailouts.

The measure is dead on arrival with a Republican Congress and President Trump in office. And even if the current Democratic Party were to take control of government, it would face a difficult path to passage, as many of the party’s moderates have opted for answers to the banking crisis that did less to alter the financial system.

Sanders’s bill would bar financial institutions from holding assets, derivatives and other forms of borrowing worth more than 3 percent of the entire U.S. economy. That would cap their size at $584 billion in today’s dollars.

[WAPO]

Tampa Bay-

The former law firm of St. Petersburg attorney Mark Stopa declared bankruptcy Tuesday, marking the end of one of Florida’s biggest and most controversial foreclosure defense firms.

The petition by Stay In My Home P.A., estimates the number of creditors — the people and businesses owed money by the firm — at between 1,000 and 5,000. It includes the names and addresses of hundreds of individuals from all over Florida, apparently homeowners who had hired Stopa’s firm to keep them from foreclosure.

Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tampa, the petition estimates the firm’s assets at $50,000 to $100,000 and its liabilities at $100,000 to $500,000 — though those figures could be revised as the case proceeds.

[TAMPA BAY]

image: DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times

CNBC-

Banks with more than $250 billion in assets could see regulatory relief as the Federal Reserve continues to review regulations, the central bank’s vice chair for supervision of financial institutions said Tuesday.

Speaking to members of the Senate, Fed Governor Randal Quarles said size alone shouldn’t be the determining factor in how banks are governed. Instead, he said, a variety of factors that focus on risk profile and systemic danger should be used.

Those with more than $250 billion but not posing a threat to the system are part of a review into how post-financial crisis regulations should be tailored to fit the current climate.

[CNBC]

Oregon Live-

Jacob McGreevey at long last got justice for himself and as many as two-dozen other military veterans.

The former Marine fought a long and unsuccessful court battle to prove that creditors illegally seized his Vancouver home. He had all but decided to throw in the towel after a federal appeals court panel ruled against him in August.

But McGreevey learned Thursday that the U.S. Justice Department had determined that a now-defunct company in Bellevue, Washington, had illegally foreclosed on at least two-dozen veterans, McGreevey among them.

[OREGON LIVE]

Lexology-

The Florida Court of Appeals recently held that an attorney was not entitled to summary judgment dismissing a legal malpractice claim brought by a lender regarding an erroneous legal description on a mortgage, despite the fact that the attorney had not prepared the legal description himself. See JBJ Inv. of S. Fla., Inc. v. S. Title Grp., Inc., 2018 WL 3301673 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. July 5, 2018). This action concerns a $135,000 loan made by a lender to a borrower and secured by five properties. The lender used a title agent to handle the loan closing, and the title agent hired an attorney to prepare the note and mortgage. Although the attorney prepared these documents, the title agent prepared the legal descriptions attached to the mortgage. After the borrower defaulted and the lender commenced a foreclosure action, the lender discovered that the legal descriptions contained a duplicate description for one of the five properties and completely omitted the description of the most valuable property. The lender then brought this action against the title agent and the attorney. The attorney filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the legal malpractice claim should be dismissed because (i) there was not attorney-client relationship with the lender because the attorney was retained by the title agent; and (ii) even if a relationship existed, it was the agent who prepared the faulty legal descriptions. The trial court found that the attorney was not responsible for preparing the legal description and granted the attorney’s motion.

[LEXOLOGY]

2018-16-1925 by DinSFLA on Scribd

Tampa Bay-

The law firm of suspended St. Petersburg attorney Mark Stopa is in such chaos that much of its staff has quit — some after suffering stress-related breakdowns — and a liquidation bankruptcy filing is imminent.

In an emergency motion filed this week in a North Florida court, the Tampa lawyer who took over Stopa’s 4,200 pending cases said the firm is not able to make payroll or hire and train new employees.

“The firm’s remaining attorneys cannot possibly respond to the clients’ needs or provide the representation that the firm’s clients deserve,” lawyer Richard Mockler wrote in the motion.

It is unclear who will now represent the thousands of homeowners throughout Florida who had sought the help of Stopa’s law firm in saving their homes.

[TAMPA BAY]

Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Northwest Trustee Services of Bellevue, Washington, for Illegally Foreclosing on Servicemembers’ Homes

Tampa Bay –

During the foreclosure crisis, thousands of Floridians turned to Mark Stopa for help in saving their homes.

The 41-year-old St. Petersburg lawyer became one of the state’s best-known foreclosure defense experts, quoted in national publications and portraying himself as a bulwark against heartless and conniving lenders.

But even as Stopa helped many people hold on to their homes, he acquired millions of dollars worth of property from other clients through what authorities say was a years-long pattern of fraud and deception. The alleged scheme to defraud clients and mortgage lenders has had a ripple effect throughout Florida, leaving thousands of foreclosure cases in limbo and Stopa’s former firm about to file for bankruptcy.

“It’s like the Titanic going down,” said Richard Mockler, a Tampa attorney who has tried unsuccessfully to salvage Stopa’s law practice.

[TAMPABAY]

image: DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | TIMES