Real Property Update

• Attorneys' Fees / Voluntary Dismissal: it is an exception to the general rule that when a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses an action the defendant is the prevailing party, when both parties compromised in agreeing to a settlement to end their litigation - Valencia Golf & Country Club Homeowners' Ass'n, Inc. v. Cmty. Res. Servs., Inc., No. 2D17-4986 (Fla. 1st DCA May 22, 2019) (reversed)
• Attorneys' Fees / Voluntary Dismissal / Foreclosure: borrower entitled to attorneys' fees as prevailing party, where bank voluntarily dismissed its case and there was never a judicial determination by trial court that bank was not a party to the contract (note and mortgage). Venezia v. JP Morgan Mortgage Acquisition Corp., No. 4D18-1278 (Fla. 4th DCA May 22, 2019) (reversed and remanded)

Financial Services Update

• Rooker-Feldman Doctrine: pursuant to Rooker-Feldman doctrine preventing a federal court from reviewing state court decisions, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court's dismissal of a borrower's lawsuit against a lender and servicer seeking declaration that mortgage loan was rescinded because a prior foreclosure lawsuit in state court between the parties resulted in a final judgment - Zamore v. Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust Co., No. 18-13635 (11th Cir. 2019)
• TILA: borrower's notice of rescission pursuant to TILA was not proper and was nullified by borrowers continuing to make payments - Madura v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P., No. 18-11716 (11th Cir. May 15, 2019)
• Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act: merchant that prints more than five digits of a credit card number in violation of FACTA causes the person whose account number is disclosed to suffer a concrete injury sufficient to confer standing to that person to pursue claim - Muransky v. Godiva Chocolatier, Inc., Nos. 16-16486, 16-16783 (11th Cir. 2019)

​Title Insurance Update

• Insurance law: New York insurance law prohibiting certain mortgage lenders from requiring borrowers to obtain title insurance from a specific title insurer, agent, or broker did not apply where transaction was between a seller and a purchaser of real property - Wenig Saltiel, LLP v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC, 2016-3083 RIC (Sup. Ct. App. N.Y. May 10, 2019) (affirming dismissal)