In an opinion written in under 1,000 words, Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal put foreclosure cases across Florida in jeopardy in Desbrunes v. U.S. Bank National Association in February. Originally published in...more
M & M Realty Partners at Hagen Ranch, LLC v. Mazzoni, Case No. 18-13536 (11th Cir. 2020). A “binding financial commitment” from a third party, including a wholly owned business entity, is required in order to satisfy the...more
Real Property Update - Condo Termination / Mandatory Arbitration: Unit owner could not pursue claims relating to condo termination for failure to comply with Florida Statutes section 718.117(16), which required unit...more
On February 11, 2020, the United States Circuit Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit issued its opinion in Anderman v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., Case No. 19-13734 regarding the applicability of the federal Fair Debt...more
In Futuri Real Estate, Inc. v. Atlantic Trustee Servs., LLC, borrowers Milton and Armida Cortez (the “Borrowers”) obtained three loans secured by separate deeds of trust on their residence: (A) a $415,000 deed of trust in...more
In the fifth opinion involving the repo liquidation saga of HomeBanc, the Third Circuit addressed several crucial issues involving the liquidation and valuation of repo collateral in bankruptcy. In re HomeBanc Mortg....more
Real Property Update - Foreclosure Sale: borrowers failed to allege adequate equitable factors and make proper showing to justify setting aside foreclosure sale, but instead re-litigate issues determined in underlying...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Breach of Contract/Damages: court erred by precluding setoff when calculating damages because purpose of award is to restore the injured party to the position it would have realized no for the other...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE FINANCIAL SERVICES UPDATE - Ad Valorem Taxes: land lease holders are considered equitable owners of land for tax purposes if land lease renews automatically and is perpetual; owners of condominium...more
In Idaho, it has long been understood that a secured creditor that has foreclosed a mortgage may be able to also get a judgment against the debtor for the remainder of the debt, if the proceeds of the foreclosure sale are not...more
Winning a deficiency judgment following foreclosure may become less costly for lenders following a May 5 ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court in United Community Bank v. Wolfe. Reversing a previous ruling by the Court...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure: final summary judgment in borrower’s favor inappropriate where borrower merely asserted that lender mistakenly filed copy of original note with court, instead of original, and where...more
A foreclosure judgment, followed by sale of the mortgaged property, doesn’t necessarily end a foreclosure case. If the sale proceeds don’t fully pay the debt, the next step is a money judgment against the borrower for the...more
A mortgage judgment in Florida does two things – it sets the amount owed to the lender, and it orders the sale of the mortgaged property and applies the proceeds to pay down the debt. Where the sale proceeds are insufficient...more
Real Property Update: - Lis Pendens/Subsequent Liens: lis pendens statute only serves to discharge liens that exist or arise prior to entry of foreclosure judgment but does not affect liens that arise after entry of...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE: Jurisdiction/Deficiency Judgment: Second DCA agrees with Third DCA that “a circuit court has subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate an independent deficiency action when the plaintiff had...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Unclean Hands: defense of unclean hands insufficient where borrower alleges bank’s loan officer inflated borrower’s income and assets to qualify for loan where borrower signed off on...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Leave to Amend: borrower should have been granted leave to amend to assert affirmative defenses pursuant to motion filed 13 days before trial because there was no prejudice, the...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Foreclosure/Standing/Hearsay: copy of a note with undated allonge containing blank endorsement sufficient to establish standing as a matter of law, even though bank did not have formal...more
Given the choice, a borrower in foreclosure may prefer that a jury determine her fate, rather than a judge. But by statute, “[a]ll mortgages shall be foreclosed in equity” and “foreclosure claim[s] shall, if tried, be tried...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Foreclosure/Standing: substitute plaintiff failed to establish standing to enforce note and fact that original plaintiff had filed original note endorsed in blank before assignment did not...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Certiorari; discovery: Certiorari review was not available to an owner of property seeking review of a trial court’s order denying his discovery requests, where the order did not completely...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Standing: party whose motion to intervene in foreclosure action was denied did not have standing to appeal final judgment of foreclosure – Market Tampa Investments, LLC. V Stobaugh,...more
Ya’ll. (I’m in the South so it’s ok to say “ya’ll” even in a legal update). It shouldn’t be that hard to get a deficiency judgment in North Carolina. To start with, unlike some other states, North Carolina does not have a...more
The level of proof that a lender must submit to obtain a deficiency judgment following a mortgage foreclosure was recently clarified by the New York Court of Appeals. Under RPAPL § 1371, a lender may seek a deficiency...more