County Considers Closing Courthouse Door On Foreclosing Lenders Lacking Proof Of Mortgage Ownership, Says Proposed Rule

(originally posted 12-30-07)
In Hamilton Couny, Ohio, The Cincinnati Enquirer reports:

• Hamilton County could become the first in Ohio to adopt court rules closing the courthouse door - at least temporarily - to some financial institutions seeking to take homes through foreclosure. The proposed rule would target lenders who file foreclosure cases but can't prove they own the mortgages. Court officials say the rule would slow foreclosures by weeks or months, while the lenders get the paperwork in order to demonstrate their right to take the properties.

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• The proposed local rule must be agreed to by a majority of judges, who meet next month. The rule would prohibit lenders from filing a foreclosure action unless they sign a sworn statement that they also own the mortgage. That could be just a paperwork issue, but it could delay a foreclosure filing by weeks or even months. [...] One national study suggests that 40 percent of foreclosure cases in bankruptcy lack the required paperwork to demonstrate that the lender is what's known in the law as "the real party in interest."

• The proposed rule would effectively expand the scope of a decision by Judge Steven E. Martin last month that threw out a foreclosure brought by Wells Fargo Bank against a North College Hill couple. The bank, Martin ruled, didn't have standing to bring the case when it filed the lawsuit. Martin was the first state judge to throw out a foreclosure case after three federal court judges in Ohio made similar rulings. "Why would we let somebody file a lawsuit to take someone's house unless they're the real party in interest?" Martin told his fellow Common Pleas Court judges Wednesday. Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann is seeking to expand Martin's precedent to courts all over Ohio. Dann has asked judges to throw out existing foreclosure cases over the "real party in interest" issue.

For more, see County may ask mortgage proof (Rule would slow foreclosure rate).

For other posts that reference the failure of some mortgage lenders and their attorneys to file the required loan documents when starting foreclosures, Go Here, Go Here, Go Here and Go Here. missing mortgage foreclosure docs alpha