Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal retreated from one of its most unpopular opinions this morning. The Third DCA surprised many with its original ruling in Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas v. Beauvais¸ 3D14-575 when...more
On March 1, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal held that the assignee of a loan cannot be liable for the failure to provide a payoff statement as required by the Truth in Lending Act, 15 USC 1639g. The case is Evanto...more
In McFarland v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 14-2126 (4th Cir. Jan. 15, 2016), the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals examined the argument that a loan was substantively unconscionable because it vastly exceeded the worth of the...more
On January 12, 2016, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of class cert. in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 USC 227 action on predominance and superiority grounds in the case Paul Gannon v. Network Telephone...more
The brief era of confusion amongst Florida trial judges regarding the standard for judging compliance with conditions precedent in residential mortgage foreclosures is hopefully coming to a close. Despite a rash of written...more
In Cottrell as Trustee v. Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., 41 Fla. L. Weekly D141f, 2D14-5885 (Fla. 2d DCA Jan. 8, 2016), Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal examined the applicability of Rule 1.540(b) to notices...more
In Stuart-Findlay v. Bank of America, N.A., 2010CA014370, 41 Fla. L. Weekly D207a (Fla. 4th DCA 2014), Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal held that a clerk’s default entered in error should have been set aside,...more
In Castellanos v. Midland Funding, LLC, 15-CV-559 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 4, 2016) the United States District Judge John Steele joined with several of his Middle District of Florida colleagues and held that the Bankruptcy Code...more
In Helton v. Bank of America, 5D14-2632 (Fla. 5th DCA Jan. 22, 2016), Florida’s Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal echoed its opinion in Webster v. Chase Home Finance, LLC, 155 So. 3d 1219, 1220 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015) that oral...more
In Garfield v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, 15-527 (2d Cir. Jan. 4, 2016), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals examined whether a debtor who has been discharged in a bankruptcy can sue in a district court under the Fair Debt...more
In the case of Domistyle, Inc., 14-41463 (5th Cir. Dec. 29, 2015), the United States Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit affirmed an order of the bankruptcy court requiring a secured creditor to reimburse the trustee for...more
In a split two-one decision, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal affirmed the decision reached below and held that Fla. Stat. 559.715’s notice of assignment provision does not create a condition precedent to...more
In Cowen Loan Servicing, LLC v. Jean Marie Delvar, 4D14-763, 2015 WL 8347300 (Fla. 4th DCA Dec. 9, 2015) the borrower alleged that he had been offered a loan modification and accepted and relied on that offer by making loan...more
As the foreclosure crisis dies down, lenders are seeing more creative tactics employed to stall foreclosures. One tactic is that during the pendency of the first lien holder’s foreclosure, the borrower will convey title, or...more
In OneWest Bank, FSB v. Gino Alessio, et al., 4D14-1444 (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 6, 2014), the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a trial judge’s order dismissing a foreclosure after the defendant improperly used a motion in...more
In Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company v. Dennis M. Conley, 4D14-2430 (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 6, 2016), Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal clarified the methods by which a foreclosure plaintiff can seek to enforce a note...more
Be careful what you wish for. That was the message Middle District of Florida Judge Carlos Mendoza delivered in Claudet v. First Federal Credit Control, Inc., 14-CV-2068 (M.D. Fla. Nov. 17, 2015) to the filer of an improper...more
In Hicks v. Wells Fargo, 5D14-1748, Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal issued the first appellate opinion to pass on the proper method of pleading a re-filed foreclosure where a prior foreclosure effort was dismissed...more
In Wells Fargo Bank v. Lauri Mailloux, 2D14-5116 (Fla. 2d DCA October 30, 2015), the Second District Court of Appeal held that the inclusion of language purporting to render a notice of voluntary dismissal conditional upon an...more
Many judges in Miami-Dade County and elsewhere held the view that “strict” compliance was the standard to determine if a notice of default complied with the provisions of a paragraph 22 of a mortgage. To this day, no...more
On October 14, 2015, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in Campbell-Ewald Company v. Gomez, 14-SC-857. The plaintiff in Gomez alleged he received an unsolicited marketing text message advertising the US Navy...more
10/29/2015
/ Advertising ,
Campbell Ewald v Gomez ,
Class Action ,
Marketing ,
Privacy Laws ,
Public Works ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Right to Privacy ,
Rule 68 ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
TCPA ,
Telemarketing ,
Text Messages ,
U.S. Navy
Standing is one of the top issues in foreclosure case law. So it comes as no surprise that the issue of standing is also a common focal point for discovery disputes in foreclosures. It has become common foreclosure defense...more
10/8/2015
/ Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Borrowers ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Discovery ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreclosure ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Standing
It’s finally here. Over the weekend, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) long awaited and oft delayed integration of the disclosures required by the Federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and Real Estate...more
10/6/2015
/ Banking Sector ,
Closing Documents ,
Compliance ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Institutions ,
HUD ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
Residential Real Estate Market ,
RESPA ,
TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule (TRID) ,
Truth in Lending Act (TILA)
In Russell v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, No. 14-61977-CIV, 2015 WL 5029346, at *5 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 26, 2015), United States District Court Judge Beth Bloom issued litigious borrowers their latest setback in a large scale...more
9/29/2015
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Banking Sector ,
Borrowers ,
Default ,
FCCPA ,
Financial Institutions ,
Inspections ,
Loans ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Mortgages ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Regulation X ,
Request For Information ,
RESPA
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) July 10, 2015 Declaratory Ruling and Order on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was received by many in the business community with great concern. The Order’s seemingly...more
9/14/2015
/ Appeals ,
Bankers ,
Chamber of Commerce ,
Compliance ,
Declaratory Rulings ,
Dish Network ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Right to Privacy ,
Rite Aid ,
Robocalling ,
Safe Harbors ,
Salesforce ,
SiriusXM ,
TCPA