Mortgages

Defendant initially violated HBOR by refusing to consider plaintiff's loan modification application because only his deceased wife was the borrower on the loan, but defendant cured its violation after suit was filed by canceling the pending foreclosure, accepting and review plaintiff's loan modification application, and offering him a trial payment plan intended to lead to a loan modification.  Thinking he… Read More

The statute of limitations for rescission enforcement actions under the Truth in Lending Act is the state law limitations period for suit on a written contract—six years in Washington, four years in California. Read More

A fee-shifting provision in the standard-form residential deed of trust is enforceable against the borrower, but only insofar as the fees are added to the loan principal secured by the deed of trust. Read More

Plaintiff homeowner stated a viable wrongful foreclosure claim against mortgage loan servicer who told plaintiff that it would not accept plaintiff's offer to reinstate the loan, even though the offer was made more than 5 business days before the trustee's sale. Read More

Section 9 of the standard-form deed of trust, which allows the lender to take steps to preserve its interest in the property (including defending litigation) and charge the cost of doing so to the borrower, is in the nature of an indemnity provision under which the lender could add its litigation expenses to the principal debt secured by the deed… Read More

Securitized mortgages that Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae held in trust for investors are considered the property of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, so HOAs cannot obtain a super-priority lien for unpaid dues that will take precedence over the mortgage loan. Read More

Borrower stated viable Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim against loan servicer, which acquired the loan while it was in default, included improper fees in the reinstatement amount it quoted, and kept treating the loan as delinquent and pursued non-judicial foreclosure after the borrower had paid the reinstatement sum in full. Read More

An appraiser hired to provide an appraisal for the lender's use does not owe the borrower a duty of care. Read More

A trial court should have given mortgage plaintiff further leave to amend a complaint to allege that party who foreclosed lacked any legal interest in the deed of trust, due to errors in the property’s chain of title. Read More

Lenders and loan servicers who act to collect on conventional real-estate-secured loans are "debt collectors" for purposes of California's Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Read More

A loan servicer owes a borrower no duty of care in handling his home loan modification application; also, unless the borrower documents a change in financial circumstances, dual tracking prohibitions do not apply to second/subsequent loan modification requests, even if the lender accepts, processes, and reviews the later loan applications.   Read More

Lender's alleged failure to (1) provide reinstatement amounts in response to a defaulted borrower's request or (2) respond to plaintiff's claimed tender of arrearages under the deed of trust, were protected activity under the Anti-SLAPP statute, but only because they occurred in the context of the borrower’s bankruptcy proceeding.   Read More

A loan servicer violates Civil Code section 2923.6 by sending the borrower a loan modification denial letter erroneously stating that the borrower has only 15 days to appeal the denial.  Read More

A creditor seeking to void a transfer under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act loses if the transferee proves that it gave reasonably equivalent value for the transfer and lacked fraudulent intent and actual, not constructive, knowledge of the transferor’s fraudulent intent.  Read More

If a junior lien securing a non-recourse debt is wiped out by a senior creditor’s foreclosure sale before the debtor files a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, the sold-out junior lienholder is not entitled to a recourse claim against the Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate.  Read More

Borrowers’ Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claims arising from non-judicial foreclosure actions were properly dismissed, except for claim under 15 USC § 1692f(6) for threatening foreclosure when no right to foreclose existed.  Read More

A home loan borrower could survive summary judgment on her claims for breach of contract and violation of the unfair competition law based on deceptive processing and denial of the borrower's loan modification applications, since servicer should have known from the beginning that borrower’s loan exceeded eligibility guidelines yet reviewed her three times anyway.  Read More

Home loan borrower failed to allege viable claims for fraud, violation of the UCL or Rosenthal Act, or wrongful foreclosure based on alleged late transfer of loan to a securitized trust or flaws in the nonjudicial foreclosure process.  Read More

The dismissal of a borrower’s fourth foreclosure delay lawsuit is affirmed based on res judicata and a lack of merit in the borrower’s securitization arguments.  Read More

A home loan borrower lacks standing to challenge a post-closing transfer of his loan into a securitized trust.  Read More