Sunday, August 30, 2009

Iowa Woman Fights Foreclosure Claiming Estranged Hubby Forged Her Signature On Loan Documents; Files Quiet Title Action In Attempt To Void Mortgage

In Hamilton County, Iowa, The Daily Freeman Journal reports:
  • Diana Messerly claims she didn't sign most of the loan documents that First State Bank of Webster City holds against her home, implying in a countersuit to the bank's foreclosure measures that her estranged husband, Doug Messerly, forged her signature on at least five separate occasions. She's also is claiming, in a suit filed in the Iowa District Court for Hamilton County, that Linda Cormaney, a First State Bank vice president and notary, notarized the loan documents against the Messerly home [...] even though they had not been signed by Diana Messerly in Cormaney's presence.

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  • But, perhaps more importantly, Messerly's countersuit also seeks an action of quiet title to end the dispute over who has a right to the property - First State Bank, which holds mortgage liens that amount to nearly $200,000 against the $170,790 home and property, or Diana Messerly, who lives there. An action of quiet title in Diana Messerly's favor would "quiet" any challenges or claims to her right to the title of the home and property, effectively freeing her - forever - of any claims against it.(1)

For more, see Accountant’s estranged wife fights foreclosure (Diana Messerly’s countersuit claims she didn’t sign loans against her home).

(1) In a separate matter, the article reports that a settlement is imminent in a lawsuit filed this spring in Webster County alleging Messerly, a former Webster City accountant, forged longtime client Margaret Stark's signature to documents selling off $260,000 in her investments, which he then deposited into his personal bank account at First State Bank, according to an attorney for the bank. DeedContraTheft