There are very, very bad things happening in this country. One of the worst things that permeates this entire country and which is destabilizing the entire world is the blatant fraud that is the very foundation of the world’s financial system.
Our government has lost control of the financial system. The banks rigged the game and bought off all the players.
Specifically as it relates to Foreclosure cases, at some point in time we will all wake up the horrifying reality that no one, not anyone…knows who is actually taking possession of hundreds of millions of dollars of mortgage payments….and where that money is going.
That’s the real issue that bubbles below the surface…right beneath the surface, but that will rear its head…
Eventually.
But now for the opinion….
A plaintiff who is not the original lender may establish standing to
foreclose a mortgage loan by submitting a note with a blank or special endorsement, an
assignment of the note, or an affidavit otherwise proving the plaintiff’s status as the
holder of the note.1 McLean v. JP Morgan Chase Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 79 So. 3d 170, 173
(Fla. 4th DCA 2012). But standing must be established as of the time of filing the
foreclosure complaint. Country Place Cmty. Ass’n v. J.P. Morgan Mortg. Acq. Corp., 51
So. 3d 1176, 1179 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010); McLean, 79 So. 3d at 173. Thus, Wells Fargo’s
submission of a postfiling assignment of the note and mortgage does not establish that
it had standing when it filed the lawsuit. See Gonzalez v. Deutsche Bank Nat’l Trust
Co., 95 So. 3d 251, 253 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012); McLean, 79 So. 3d at 173.
Wells Fargo alternatively argues that it established standing by submitting
the original note endorsed in blank. See Cutler v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 109 So. 3d
224, 225-26 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012); Everhome Mortg. Co. v. Janssen, 100 So. 3d 1239,
1240 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012); Green v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 109 So. 3d 1285,
1288 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013). As with the assignment, however, Wells Fargo did not
submit the original note until several months after it had filed the complaint. To
establish standing as the holder of a note endorsed in blank, a party must be in
possession of the original note. See § 671.201(21)(a), Fla. Stat. (2007) (defining
“holder” as “[t]he person in possession of a negotiable instrument that is payable either
to bearer or to an identified person that is the person in possession”); Everhome, 100
So. 3d at 1240; Green, 109 So. 3d at 1288. Thus, Wells Fargo was required to submit
evidence that it was in possession of the original note with the blank endorsement at the
time it filed the complaint to establish standing. See Green, 109 So. 3d at 1288.
Wells Fargo noted that the trust in which Focht’s mortgage loan was held
was created years before Wells Fargo filed the foreclosure action. But the record does
not reflect that, at the time the trust was created, Focht’s mortgage loan was an asset of
the trust. Thus, a genuine issue of material fact remains regarding standing that
precludes the entry of summary judgment. See Cutler, 109 So. 3d at 226 (reversing
summary judgment where a plaintiff who was not the original lender filed a claim to
reestablish a lost note with its foreclosure claim and subsequently found and filed the
original note but failed to present evidence establishing when the plaintiff became the
proper holder of the note); McLean, 79 So. 3d at 174 (same).
Accordingly, we reverse the final judgment in case number 2D11-4511
and remand for further proceedings, and we dismiss as moot the appeal in case number
2D11-4980. We also certify a question based on some of the same concerns
articulated by Judge Altenbernd in his concurrence. We recognize that trial courts have
been overwhelmed by foreclosure filings and that the number is mounting.2 See In re
Amendments to Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.490, 113 So. 3d 777, 778 (Fla. 2013). And the
supreme court has taken action to relieve the backlog of foreclosure cases by various
means within its authority. See id. at 779; In re Certification of Need for Additional
Judges, 29 So. 3d 1110, 1115-16 (Fla. 2010).
