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Now that reasoning is spreading to other judges as well. Many more judges are carefully scrutinizing mortgage documents filed as part of disclosures and are dismissing cases based on mistakes they find.
Shared office space, for one thing. Apparently, one judge has found that lots of mortgage-related companies all claim to have the same address: a suite in Florida. This includes several Wall Street banks. The judge wondered just how big this suite was, or whether there was something more nefarious going on.
There are also the so-called backdated mortgage assignments. Assignments, of course, transfer the mortgage from one entity to another, but many assignments have been executed after the foreclosure process has begun and simply state that they are effective "as of" a date prior to the action. Some judges are dismissing these cases, saying retroactive assignments of mortgages are not valid.
These are just some of the issues judges are using to dismiss foreclosure actions. Careful review of foreclosure documents may let enterprising lawyers make such an argument. Sometimes, if you dig deep enough, you can prove that the entity trying to foreclose doesn't even own the loan.
This could prove to be a quickly evolving legal market, and many firms may look to hire someone who can handle foreclosures one way or the other — i.e., either by preventing them or executing them properly.
