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Bankruptcy Lawyer Triumphs Over JPMorgan Chase

June 14th, 2010

On March 4, 2010 -- New York Bankruptcy Lawyer Triumphs Over Shoddy Mortgage Lender Practices Manhattan condominium owner, victim of shoddy record-keeping at mortgage giant JPMorgan Chase, fights back and wins with the help of New You bankruptcy lawyer David B. Shaev.

New York homeowners filing for bankruptcy are breathing a sigh of relief, knowing that the courts are on their side. In a scathing opinion issued recently by US. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn, JPMorgan Chase Bank was effectively denied payment of their entire alleged mortgage claim because they refused to prove their ownership of the loan. The case is In re Minbatiwalla, Chapter 13 Case No. 09-15693 (MG) (Bankr.S.D.N.Y. 2009).

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Owners Stop Paying Mortgage.. and Stop Fretting About It

On Monday May 31, 2010, 8:55 pm EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For Alex Pemberton and Susan Reboyras, foreclosure is becoming a way of life  — something they did not want but are in no hurry to get out of.

Foreclosure has allowed them to stabilize the family business. Go to Outback occasionally for a steak. Take their gas-guzzling airboat out for the weekend. Visit the Hard Rock Casino.

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Loan Aid Leaves Some Worse Off

One in Four in Government's Mortgage Program Is Dropped; Tales of Exhausted Savings

By JAMES R. HAGERTY

The government's mortgage modification program has left some struggling homeowners worse off than they were before.

The Treasury reported Monday that nearly one in four homeowners who were offered lower payments under the Obama administration's 15-month-old effort have been weeded out of the program. Many people were removed from the trials because they failed to make payments, didn't provide all the financial documents needed to qualify or were found to be ineligible.

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A Surprise Tax Hit on Foreclosures 

By JEFF D. OPDYKE

Maxine McDaniel has a message for Americans considering walking away from an unaffordable mortgage: Beware of taxes.

Though not every homeowner who's underwater on a mortgage need worry, many are finding that a foreclosure or other form of housing loss can lead to a big tax obligation.

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Homes can be lost by mistake when banks miscommunicate

By Paul Kiel, ProPublica

Last November, Michael Hill of Lexington, S.C., finally got the call he'd been waiting for. Congratulations, a rep from JPMorgan Chase told him, your trial mortgage modification is approved. Hill's monthly payment, around $900, would be nearly halved.

Except there was a problem. Chase had foreclosed on Hill's home a month earlier, and his family was just days away from eviction.

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Round Two: Suffolk County Supreme Court’s Judge Spinner Takes on Wells Fargo

Written on March 9, 2010 by Kathleen A. Scanlon

Having recently issued a  decision canceling an Indymac mortgage lien in another foreclosure action, Judge Spinner turns his attention to the outrageous actions of Wells Fargo and holds the mortgage behemoth liable for trespass, resulting in $155,092.00 judgment, in Wells Fargo v. Tyson. At the outset, the court pointed out that the Plaintiff sent a per diem attorney to the first  settlement conference who had no knowledge of the case so that any potential progress was thwarted. 

It is a common problem and a recurring complaint that usually Plaintiff’s representative, at these settlement conferences, has no authority to negotiate, thus preventing any meaningful settlement and violating the spirit of the law. Having aroused the ire of numerous judges, you would think that these foreclosure mill law firms would figure out that they had better send counsel with authority to enter into some sort of settlement or at least have the ability to get someone on the phone who has it.

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Mortgage Meltdown: Distressed homeowners take on lenders in court

Written on April 9, 2010 by Paola Iuspa-Abbott 

Diana and John Cirigliano can’t wait to face off with Wells Fargo at a foreclosure trial.

A Miami-Dade circuit court judge last month sided with them, when he ruled that the lender had failed to prove it had the right to foreclose on their Miami Beach condo.

“I was ready to kiss the judge,” Diana Cirigliano said. “I thanked the judge for listening to us. He took the facts and ruled on the facts.”

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The American Banker

By Sara Lepro

A pair of Florida court rulings will make foreclosures in this hard-hit housing market even more painful for lenders.
 

Law Firm find upsides to current market downside

New York Post

Richard Wilner

As the mortgage melt down paralyzed the economy across the US and throughout New York State, one company in the center of the storm had all the business it could handle.

The little-known law firm of Steven J. Baum PC, which is based in suburban Buffalo, NY, and represents dozens of banks in matters of failed mortgages, last year filed a staggering 12,551 foreclosure lawsuits in New York City and the suburbs, which works out to about 48 a day.

Are lenders finally willing to take the cut?

By John Gittelsohn and Prashant Gopal

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Efforts by U.S. banks to help distressed homeowners have focused mainly on temporary fixes such as interest-rate reductions that may only put off the day of reckoning, despite policy makers wanting them to do more.