April 8, 2015

A Monroe County (Florida Keys) Circuit Judge has today entered Final Judgment in favor of the homeowners in a securitization case where Citibank was the “indenture trustee” for a Bear Stearns securitization. Jeff Barnes, Esq. represented the homeowners and tried the case in Key West on February 10, 2015.

The homeowners’ expert witness Richard Kahn (www.fpg-usa.com), who was the former national product manager for Merrill Lynch’s mortgage-backed securities division on Wall Street whose responsibilities included insuring that all mortgage loans transferred to securitization trusts complied with the trust documents and applicable laws, testified that the Plaintiff did not and never came into any interest in the Note or Mortgage. Citibank offered no countervailing expert and presented no evidence to rebut the expert’s testimony.

The Court found that the homeowners’ affirmative defenses of lack of the Plaintiff acquiring any interest in the Note and Mortgage were not proven to be legally insufficient and were not rebutted by the preponderance of the evidence, and thus the homeowners prevailed on these affirmative defenses. The Court found that the Plaintiff never acquired standing to have instituted the action.

Under Florida law, the homeowners may now seek recovery of their attorneys’ fees and costs as well from Citibank.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com