Foreclosure Process Is "A Circus," Says Mass. Class Action Demanding Lenders Prove Note Ownership; Suit Seeks To Stop Current & Set Aside Past Sales

In Boston, Massachusetts, the Boston Herald reports:

• A class action lawsuit has been filed that could stop hundreds of foreclosures and reverse thousands of others. “The rush to foreclose has turned the process into a circus,” said Gary Klein, an attorney representing two Boston homeowners facing foreclosure. "We’re asking these lenders to prove they hold the mortgage.”

• The suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court alleges that since 2004 GMAC Mortgage, Deutsche Bank National Trust, Harmon Law Offices and Ablitt Law Offices foreclosed on properties despite the fact that they do not own or were not assigned the mortgages.

• Klein estimates that as many as 1,000 homes in Massachusetts could be affected and thousands more going forward. If the lawsuit is successful, foreclosures in the pipeline would be placed on hold until lenders can prove they own the mortgage. If a foreclosure sale has taken place without the proper authority, it could be set aside.

For more, see Lawyer to lenders: Prove you own mortgages.

See also, The Boston Globe: Lenders' right to foreclose is challenged:

• "Massachusetts' foreclosure process has become an undisciplined and lawless rush to seize homes," the suit alleged. "Many thousands of foreclosures are plainly void under statute and settled Massachusetts case law."

For posts that reference the failure of some mortgage lenders and their attorneys to prove ownership of the promissory note when starting foreclosure actions, Go Here, Go Here, Go Here, and Go Here. missing mortgage foreclosure docs gamma