Just a small sampling of the serious title issues that will be raised in years to come and will result in challenges to tens of thousands of foreclosure judgments across this county and which will expose the title insurance underwriters to an unimaginable volume of title claims….I can only imagine that federal intervention will be required….read on.
Perform Complete Title Search $15.95 + TPC
A title search is the very first step in performing a foreclosure. If your title search is not done properly, no matter what happens later, you’re going to have problems….real problems. I have been a title agent for years and I can tell you that there is no way on God’s green earth that I would go anywhere near performing a title search on even the smallest property without being paid an amount of money that would allow me to do the job correctly. A proper examination of title, in the simplest and easiest case, would take anywhere from a half an hour to an hour. Anything beyond the most basic title search would require quite literally hours of examination, hard work and study.
Cure Defective Mortgage $12.95 + TPC
“Defects” come in all different varieties…was the legal description incorrect? Was the marital status or name incorrect? Were pages not recorded or no recorded correctly? Whatever the case, “curing” these errors takes time and can be very difficult. There is just no way this reflects the real cost of doing this critical work and who actually has the right to correct a mortgage if the error was made by the original mortgagee years prior who is probably long gone out of business? I very much question whether a subsequent mortgagee has the legal authority or right to correct errors made so long ago without Order of the court.
And now we get to the real damming elements from this list. Take a careful look at each of the items on this list because these critical pieces of paper are where so many of the problems exist with the foreclosure cases that have been churned through over the last several years and it is these documents that will provide the fertile ground for challenging titles and judgments for years to come. The list suggests that LPS is creating these documents….we also know that LPS or their employees were executing these documents. The real question is whether those executing these documents had even the slightest authority or legal capacity to execute these key documents. Any old person can sign documents all day long, but if the person signing the documents lacks the specific corporate authority or prerequisite legal basis to sign the documents, then they HAVE NO LEGAL FORCE OR EFFECT.
Understand that the documents listed below are the key and core documents that courts have relied upon to grant tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of foreclosure judgments across the country. We will be carefully examining these documents over the years to come. The examination will focus on whether the person who signed these documents had any authority whatsoever to sign the documents. Some questions. If an originating lender has been in bankruptcy or has been a dissolved corporation since 2006/2007, how could LPS (or any other document mill) get documents signed on behalf of that defunct corporation? Done properly, a federal bankruptcy trustee will authorize agents to sign on behalf of bankrupt corporations and supervise their actions, but how many bankruptcy trustees authorized the robo signers to sign for all these bankrupt subprime lenders who make up the bulk of the mortgagees in these cases?
And here’s a good one…..under the Uniform Commercial Code, the technical legal requirement for an allonge is that it must be “so permanently affixed to a note so as to become a part of that document”…..earlier comments to to the Code made it clear that an allonge was only to be used when an endorsement could not be stamped on the note itself….but here is the billion dollar question…..
What business does LPS or any document mill have in producing allonges when those should only be in custody/control of the entity that is in possession of the original “wet ink” promissory note?
Create Lost Note Affidavit $12.95 + SH
Create Note Allonge $12.95 + SH
Create Missing Intervening Assignment $35.00 + TPC
Record Prepared Assignments $12.95 + TPC
Cure Defective Assignment $12.95 + TPC
Read carefully the Motion to Dismiss that I filed in one of my cases, drafted by a brilliant lawyer who works with me, Michael Fuino. I submit that this memo was the first and most comprehensive document which addresses the issues surrounding Allonges. Read the detailed legal history and research that we conducted.
(I also believe that Fuino’s memo and motions challenging affidavits was the first and most authoritative legal research on the affidavit issues that broke with Jeffrey Stephan, but that will be the subject of another post.)