Sunday, May 22, 2011

'Go Forward' Says Utah Federal Judge In Order Denying Bankster Attempt To Dismiss Homeowner Foreclosure Challenge As Lawyers Don't Know Who Owns Note

In Salt Lake City, Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reports:
  • U.S. District Judge Dee Benson left open a legal window Wednesday for two South Jordan residents facing the loss of their house, one of the first cracks in federal court for Utahns trying to save homes from the wave of foreclosures swamping the state.
  • Benson declined to grant a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Michael and Dana Geddes to halt the foreclosure on their home while they try to negotiate a loan modification. That means the couple and their attorney can proceed with gathering testimony and documents to try to prove their contention that the foreclosure process to which they’re being subjected does not comply with Utah and federal laws.

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  • Federal judges in Utah have generally been hostile to lawsuits by homeowners who say that, in the process where mortgages were packaged and resold to groups of investors, traditional property recording practices and laws were bypassed and that, as a result, foreclosures were proceeding illegally.
  • Benson conducted a 90-minute hearing in the Geddes lawsuit in which he intently grilled both sides over various legal questions. But what seemed to sway him was the admission by attorneys for the foreclosing entities that they were not sure who actually owned the couple’s mortgage note.

For more, see Judge sides with homeowners in foreclosure suit (Federal court: Judge rules owners can seek evidence to halt loss of S. Jordan home).