February 3, 2017

Today, a District Court in Fort Bend County, Texas has granted a homeowner’s emergency motion to cancel a foreclosure sale scheduled by JPMorgan Chase which sale was scheduled for February 7, 2017. The homeowner is represented by Jeff Barnes, Esq. (who drafted the Petition (Complaint), Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, and the TRO itself), and local Texas counsel J. Derek Winfrey, Esq.

The case centers around JPM’s alleged acquisition, from the FDIC, of a WaMu-originated loan via the FDIC Receivership of WaMu. The Petition recites the lack of any mortgage loan schedule to the Purchase and Assumption Agreement between JPM and the FDIC; the lack of any reference to mortgage loans in the P&AA; the inconsistent position taken by JPM in Federal litigation in which it claimed that it is not the successor in interest to WaMu; and the deposition testimony of former WaMu and JPM mortgage management employee Lawrence Nardi that there was never any schedule of mortgage loans as to loans (allegedly) acquired by JPM from the FDIC and that there were no assignments, allonges, or endorsements evidencing the transfer of any WaMu loans to JPM.

The case will now proceed into discovery.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

January 26, 2017

Due to several new matters which have come into Mr. Barnes’ office this week which require immediate attention, the webinar which was scheduled for Friday, January 27, 2017 is cancelled and is being rescheduled. We will post the new date when the decision as to the specific date has been made.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

January 17, 2017

Due to another matter which has recently arisen involving Mr. Barnes’ litigation schedule, the Foreclosure Defense seminar which was scheduled for Friday, February 3, 2017 is being moved to May, 2017. Seminars are planned for Orlando and Tampa in March and April. We will advise as soon as the new date is firmed up.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

January 3, 2017

We announced the webinar series in our prior post below. The date for the first webinar is Friday, January 27, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). The cost is $99.00 which is paid through PayPal, directing the payment to the e-mail address of [email protected].

The webinar will be a total of ninety (90) minutes (60 minutes of instruction followed by 30 minutes of Q&A from participants). Written materials are provided.

Webinars will be held once a month, with future dates to be announced.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

December 30, 2016

In response to overwhelming demand, FDN’s Jeff Barnes, Esq. will begin his webinar series in January, 2017. The webinars will be held on Fridays and will last 90 minutes (60 minutes of presentation followed by 30 minutes for Q&A from participants). The cost is $99.00, which is paid through PayPal. Written materials will be provided to each paid participant in advance of the webinar.

The first installment of the webinar series will be Initial Case Analysis and Identification of Issues, which will cover what issues to look for in a case and basic matters of defense.

Details as to the dates and times of the webinars will be provided shortly after January 2, 2017. We wish everyone a happy, healthy, and successful New Year.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

December 13, 2016

FDN is pleased to announce the addition of Donna Douglas, Esq. of Brooklyn, New York to the attorney network. Mr. Barnes has been forging a relationship with Ms. Douglas for over a month, and met with Ms. Douglas for most of the day yesterday in New York reviewing cases and interviewing clients before attending Court in Brooklyn where Mr. Barnes was admitted pro hac vice.

Ms. Douglas will be working with Mr. Barnes handling foreclosure cases in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County at this time, with expansion plans being in the works.

Some of the cases reviewed involve mortgage documents with forged borrower signatures. This pattern is on the rise, especially in cases which were originally filed as “lost note” cases or where a copy of the Note was not attached to the Complaint. Several of the cases involve elderly borrowers, which is another disturbing pattern.

Mr. Barnes will thus be pursuing Fraud on the Court and other causes of action where borrowers signatures have been forged in an apparent attempt to lend credibility to an otherwise infirm foreclosure action.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

December 9, 2016

A Hillsborough County (Tampa) Circuit Judge has denied summary judgment in a case involving a WaMu loan origination which (allegedly) passed to JPMorgan Chase following WaMu’s demise and FDIC receivership and (allegedly) notwithstanding WaMu’s Bankruptcy filing the day after it went into receivership. The loan was then (allegedly) sold multiple times to three different entities. Each time the borrower amended his defenses to address a sale of the loan and substitution of Plaintiff, the loan was sold again. The 4th downline transferee, which is a private limited partnership, is now seeking to foreclose. The borrower is represented by Jeff Barnes, Esq., who prepared the formal opposition to the MSJ and argued it this week. The case is now set for trial in February, 2017.

Separately, FDSeminars’ foreclosure defense seminar series will be resuming beginning in February, 2017. The first seminar will be held on Friday, February 3, 2017 in Boca Raton, Florida at 1515 North Federal Highway (Atrium Building). The second seminar will be held in the Miami area on Friday, March 3, 2017. The third and fourth seminars will be held in Tampa and Orlando, Florida. One will be held on April 7, 2017 and the other on a date in early May which is being finalized. Locations will be announced shortly.

Attorneys will receive a minimum of 7 CLE credits. We are in the process of seeking to obtain CLE credits for both general and specific practice areas as well. We will also be videotaping the seminar so that interested parties who cannot physically attend may purchase the seminar in video format.

Details can be found at the website, www.FDSeminars.com.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

December 2, 2016

A Santa Fe County, New Mexico Judge has ordered the deposition of the representative of Bank of New York who signed an alleged “conflict wavier” which was prepared after the homeowner filed a Motion to Disqualify Plaintiff’s counsel due to a conflict of interest. Jeff Barnes, Esq. represents the homeowner together with local NM counsel Guy Beckley, Esq.

Bank of NY as the alleged trustee of a Countrywide home equity (HEQ) securitization Trust sued the homeowner for foreclosure. Counsel for BNY prepared an assignment which purported to transfer the loan to BNY as the trustee of a different Countrywide securitization trust (an ALT). The law Firm then sued its own client (BNY as Trustee for the HEQ Trust) and sought a default against its own client, doing so without proof of service on its own client, without evidence of a waiver of conflict, and as part of its Motion for Default and Summary Judgment.

The homeowner filed a Motion to Disqualify the law Firm based on the conflict of interest in the Plaintiff’s law Firm suing its own client and seeking a default against its own client in connection with the alleged transfer of the loan from one securitization trust to another. The law Firm thereafter filed an alleged “conflict waiver” signed by a representative of BNY which was not in affidavit form or otherwise authenticated.

At the hearing yesterday, Mr. Barnes requested, at a minimum, that the deposition of the BNY employee who signed the alleged conflict waiver be taken. The Court agreed over the vociferous objection of the attorney from the Plaintiff’s law Firm, and also ordered that the deposition be filed after which time the Court will review the testimony and rule on the disqualification motion

Under New Mexico law, a motion for disqualification must be ruled upon before any other proceedings go forward. Thus, the Plaintiff’s MSJ will not be entertained until the disqualification motion has been decided.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

November 21, 2016

Motions for leave (permission) to file amended claims against “banks” seeking to foreclose have been granted in cases in Hawaii and Oregon in the last 4 days. The homeowners are represented by Jeff Barnes, Esq. of W. J. Barnes, P.A., together with local counsel in each state.

In the Hawaii case, the homeowners had been proceeding pro se, and HSBC Bank as Trustee for a securitization trust had filed a motion for summary judgment. The homeowners sought leave to amend their Answer and affirmative defenses, which motion was vigorously opposed by HSBC’s counsel (who Mr. Barnes had previously prevailed against by defeating motions filed by that Firm). The Court, after extensive argument, granted the homeowners’ motion last Thursday, which now permits them to advance new theories of defense which Mr. Barnes’ Firm has developed and which have not been previously litigated in Hawaii.

Today, an Oregon Circuit Judge also granted the homeowners’ motion to amend their original Complaint, which was filed in 2010 to defend against what was then a non-judicial foreclosure instituted by GMAC mortgage. MERS, which was a defendant in the case, prevailed on summary judgment. The homeowners appealed and prevailed at both the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court levels in what has become known as the “Niday case”, which held that MERS is not a beneficiary of the Deed of Trust despite claiming to be so. Jeff Barnes, Esq. of W. J. Barnes, P.A. represented the homeowners in both of the appeals, and in the hearing today.

The Court’s ruling today permits the homeowners to pursue a new theory of defense developed by Mr. Barnes’ Firm against U.S. Bank as the claimed “trustee” of a securitization trust, despite the fact that it has failed to explain how the enforceable interest in the Note and DOT went from GMAC Mortgage (which filed for Bankruptcy in May of 2012) to U.S. Bank.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com

November 4, 2016

Per our prior post, the Colorado Supreme Court is holding a public hearing on proposed changes to CRCP 120, which governs the institution of non-judicial foreclosures, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 10, 2016. Mr. Barnes will be speaking at this hearing. Several homeowners groups will also be in attendance.

CRCP 120, notwithstanding subpart (d) which permits the filing of an independant action to challenge a foreclosure upon the issuance of an Order Authorizing Sale (OAS) following a CRCP 120 hearing, has a host of problems both procedurally and substantively. It is only one of two “probable cause” type proceedings in the entire United States which permit the scheduling of a foreclosure sale in the context of a non-adversarial, quasi-administrative proceeding with no benefit of discovery; a presumption in favor of the foreclosing party; and a “guilty until proven innocent” structure.

Jeff Barnes, Esq., www.ForeclosureDefenseNationwide.com