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Lender Liability

HBORs New Case Compendium: Case Summaries of Recent Homeowners Bill of Right and Foreclosure-related Case Law and Administrative Guidance

Download the most recent Case Compendium regarding the Homeowners Bill of Rights and foreclosure-related case law and administrative guidance  NHLP-Foreclosure-Newsletter-June-2016

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Victory For Borrowers! – CA Supreme Court Allows Chain of Title Challenges (Yvanova)

On February 18, 2016, the California Supreme Court issued a decision on a hotly contested issue between mortgage loan borrowers and foreclosing banks.   In Yvanova v. New Century, the California Supreme Court overturned a trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s case finding Yvanova had “standing” to challenge the foreclosure of her home when she claimed…

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Bergman’s Firm Wins Appellate Writ Petition of HOLA Preemption Ruling Against OneWest

On March 20, 2015, Judge Mark Mooney, a LA Superior Court judge, dismissed our client’s tort claims against OneWest in a case involving OneWest’s negligent conduct and wrongful foreclosure. The trial court sided with OneWest’s argument that the Home Owners Loan Act “HOLA” (12 USC Section 1461 et seq.) preempted all state-law tort claims like…

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Katherine Porter’s California Monitor Report – A Review of HBOR Legislation

On September 30, 2014, Katherine Porter, a UCI Professor who also serves as the California Monitor overseeing the HBOR legislation, released her highly anticipated report aconcerning the HBOR legislation.  In her report, Ms. Porter concludes that mortgage servicing has improved because of the National Mortgage Settlement, but lawmakers must look at reforming their own approaches to…

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Judge Permits Plaintiffs to Seek Punitive Damages Against Wells Fargo

Bergman has been prosecuting a loan modification negligence and breach of contract case against Wells Fargo for its deceptive practices in reviewing and negotiating a loan modification.  This case has been in litigation since April 2012 and new evidence obtained in discovery has led to the plaintiffs amending their complaint to add a cause of…

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Shapiro v. SPS – Judge Gets It Right in Ruling on CA HBOR

In ruling on Sage Point Lender Service’s (“SPS”) motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint, the judge inShapiro v. SPS delievered a swift blow to an argument many servicers make in an attempt to dodge the plain language and purpose of the California Homeowner’s Bill of Rights (“HBOR”).  Under the HBOR, a servicer cannot “dual track”…

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CA Court of Appeals Finally Finds Servicers Cannot Negligently Handle Your Loan Mod Application

There has been significant progress in the case law involving mortgage loan servicer negligence in the handling of loan modification applications.  Recently, in Alvarez v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, the California Court of Appeal (First Appellate District, Division Three) held — for the first time– that a mortgage loan servicer owes a duty of care…

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Rufini v. CitiMortgage – Appellate Court Finds Citimortgage May Be Liable For Denying Loan Modification With Bogus Excuse

Rufini v. CitiMortgage Inc. is yet another example of how California appellate courts are not letting bank servicers get away with loan modification misrepresentations and deceptive practices. In Rufini, the plaintiff homeowner entered into a trial loan modification agreement with Citimortgage and timely made all trial modification payments.  Citimortgage advised him that the loan modification…

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Mahoney v. Bank of America – Case Proceeds Against Bank of America For Failing to Provide Reinstatement Information

In Mahoney v. Bank of America, No. 13-CV-2530 W(JMA), decided on May 27, 2014, a federal court judge refused to dismiss causes of action for negligence, breach of contract, and specific performance against Bank of America and Nationstar.  The homeowner plaintiffs filed the suit after Bank of America bungled their loan modification application, accepted $50k…

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Default Mode: How Ocwen Skirts California’s Mortgage Laws

  Capital and Main  | by  David Dayen.  The following story was reported by Capital and Main and published here in collaboration with The Huffington Post. Lost documents. Incomplete and confusing information. Mysterious fees. Payments received but not applied. Homeowners waiting for a loan modification and suddenly placed in foreclosure. A nightmare of uncertainty, frustration and fear. These incidents,…

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