Monthly Archives: April 2025

BANKS AND SERVICERS RAMPING UP FORECLOSURES ON OLD LOANS

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We are seeing a recent ramping up foreclosures by investment banks and servicers on loans originated in the early-to-mid 2000s after a somewhat lengthy period of inactivity. Many of these are old Countrywide and WaMu loans which, allegedly, have been transferred to securitization trusts involving Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, US Bank, HSBC Bank, and others which were involved heavily in the securitization of mortgage loans beginning in 2000.

Litigation on the issues never fully resolved many of the issues surrounding standing to foreclose, the viability of assignments, questionable endorsements, and setoff issues. Thus, these issues, depending on the jurisdiction, are still undecided and thus ripe for assertion.

We are also seeing an increase in “zombie” loan claims as well as claims made by different entities as to who allegedly succeeded to the interest in a Note and/or mortgage instrument, and suspect that these types of cases will continue to increase given the present state of the economy including what appears to be a “tightening up” by the banks in approving mortgage applications. With less loans being originated, the “banks” are apparently searching their books to seek to foreclose on old loans which they had not acted upon for years in order to boost their balance sheets and perception of assets..

Jeff Barnes, Esq.

 

Jeff Barnes is now Admitted to the Court of Federal Claims

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The Court of Federal Claims is a specialized Federal court which has jurisdiction over disputes concerning certain actions of the government including disputes involving government contracts. Mr. Barnes was recently admitted to this specialized Court in connection with an action against the U.S. Postal Service which, as alleged in the Complaint, breached a lease with Mr. Barnes’ client regarding proper maintenance of a postal facility after the client put the Postal Service on notice of certain dangerous conditions in the facility. A fire subsequently burned the facility and an adjacent residence to the ground, resulting in over $1,000,000.00 in damages to Mr. Barnes’ client.

The Court of Federal Claims deals with contract-based claims under what is known as the “Tucker Act”, which is a Federal statute providing for jurisdiction of contract-based claims against the government..

“Tort” claims against the government, such as negligence-based claims, are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts implementing state substantive law,. These types of claims are subject to certain very specific pre-suit procedures including the detailed submission of a claim prior to any suit being initiated, which can only occur upon denial of the initial claim if the denial is made within the specified timeframe (normally 60 days after submission of a claim), or if the government entity fails to respond to the claim within the 60 days after the claim is submitted to the government entity.

Mr. Barnes’ client has submitted negligence-based claims as to the actions and inactions of the postal service in failing to remediate the dangerous conditions which, as alleged, both caused the fire and contributed to the total destruction of the postal facility and the adjacent residence resulting in significant damages to Mr. Barnes’ client. The case law provides that the government entity is liable to the property owner for damages when it negligently maintains a property used by the entity, and also where the government entity has been placed on notice of the dangerous conditions prior to the event which caused injury and damages.

National Law Group, PLLC