Ohio Non-Profit Legal Advocates Weigh In With Amicus Brief In Effort To Hold Banksters Accountable For Inability To Prove Foreclosure Rights

In Athens, Ohio, The Athens NEWS reports:

• An attorney with a local legal aid agency has signed onto a "friend of the court" brief filed with the Ohio Supreme Court in a case that could have a big impact on home foreclosures in the state.



• The brief, in U.S. Bank National Association v. Antoine Duvall, was submitted Aug. 16 by Peggy P. Lee of Southeastern Ohio Legal Services, along with representatives of many other legal aid agencies and activist groups around Ohio.(1)



• SEOLS and others who signed onto the amicus curiae brief have been involved in the Save the Dream Ohio project, a statewide foreclosure intervention initiative, and they report that since 2008, they collectively have represented more than 12,000 homeowners in various foreclosure-related actions.



• The Duvall case is complex, but essentially addresses a growing legal issue that could seriously impact home foreclosures in Ohio: the issue of whether a foreclosing bank can actually prove that it owns the mortgage.

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• Lee of SEOLS said in foreclosure cases, the strategy of demanding that the foreclosing party produce the actual mortgage documents has been catching on among homeowners, which has led to a number of cases around Ohio in which appellate courts have come to different conclusions on whether you have to have the mortgage documents in hand to take a foreclosure to court.



• "There's been a lot of different opinions from a lot of different appellate districts," she said, which is why the state Supreme Court has been asked to review the question.

For more, see SEO Legal Services weighs in on big anti-foreclosure lawsuit.

For the Ohio appeals court ruling at the center of this litigation, see U.S. Bank Nat'l. Assn. v. Duvall, 2010 Ohio 6478 (Ohio App. 8th Dist. Cuyahoga County, December 30, 2010).

(1) Go here for the amicus brief filed jointly by the following nine non-profit law firms throughout Ohio in this case:

• Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.,
• Community Legal Aid Services, Inc.,
• Legal Aid of Western Ohio,
• Legal Aid Society of Cleveland,
• Legal Aid Society of Columbus,
• Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, LLC,
• Ohio Poverty Law Center, LLC,
• Pro Seniors,
• Southeastern Ohio Legal Services.

Go here for links to all the briefs filed with the Ohio Supreme Court in this case.