All Eyes On Judge Nancy Russo - Ohio GMAC Foreclosure Case May Set Anti-Wall Street Precedent
From Bloomberg
When James Renfro had to stop making payments on his two-story fixer-upper in Parma, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, he triggered events that were supposed to result in the forced sale of his home.
That Nov. 15 auction has been canceled because of defects in documents submitted by his loan servicer, Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit. Two affidavits about Renfro’s home were signed by Jeffrey Stephan, a GMAC employee who said in sworn depositions in Florida and Maine that he hadn’t read thousands of affidavits he’d signed.
Renfro’s case has created a showdown between GMAC and Ohio’s Attorney General Richard Cordray. Cordray has asked Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nancy Russo not to let GMAC simply submit new documents to cure defects without consequences. He’s taken the same stand against Wells Fargo & Co., which has said it found defects in 55,000 foreclosures.
“This is just the first,” said Cordray, who filed an amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief in the Renfro case. He argued that Russo should punish GMAC, the fourth-largest U.S. mortgage lender, for its conduct.
The judge today in Cleveland set an accelerated schedule for evidence-gathering in the case, leading up to a Feb. 17 hearing on the integrity of the loan documents. Cordray’s office plans to file a motion tomorrow asking to take part in the case and participate in so-called discovery.
Allegations of Fraud
The precedent set by the case might hasten a settlement between home lenders and the attorneys general of the 50 U.S. states, who are investigating allegations of fraud in foreclosure filings. Those being probed include San-Francisco- based Wells Fargo, which has said it will re-file foreclosure affidavits involving statements that “did not strictly adhere to the required procedures.”
In potentially thousands of cases across the U.S., judges have the power to impose “sanctions, penalties, fines and even default,” as the banks try to submit substitute paperwork to proceed with flawed foreclosures, Cordray said.
“The banks want to wish this away and pretend like it doesn’t exist,” he said.
In September, Detroit-based Ally briefly suspended foreclosures in 23 states where there is judicial review and later announced an independent survey of foreclosure proceedings that would extend nationwide. After a review, the company began reinstating proceedings in cases it said didn’t involve errors.
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Nov 10, 2010 at 3:02 PM
Reader Comments (18)
"The documents" are what GMAC submitted because it could not produce a promissory note. If Judge Russo finds that those documents were created fraudulently, GMAC is likely to be found in contempt of court (although that lies within the discretion of the court). What is certain, in the event the docs are found to be fraudulent, is that GMAC cannot foreclose on Renfro, the homeowner.
The banks and MSM and the Obama administration and big-money pols can jawbone this issue to death in an effort to convince anyone who'll listen that this is merely a paperwork issue. Newsflash: it isn't; it's a massive problem that's not going away anytime soon.
The banks are horse-fucked, plain and simple.
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Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Doctor+dandy+idea+leads+promising+cancer+finding/3805715/story.html#ixzz14wCtgQ6X
I have in mind an exclusive. Cheyenne's Real-Time Bankster Sodomization Manual, consisting of Cheyenne's first-hand account of the events that transpire once I stop paying my mortgage. I'll give a real-time blow-by-blow as I duke it out to the death in court with my mortgage servicer. At the end, your audience will have a free work-book on how to live both debt- and rent-free.
See, I'm tired of people bitching. It's endless, and it's boring. I want action...
Does this sound unreasonable?
For the 2nd half of the show, immediately after sending the old fuck-you letter to the servicer, I light out to Vegas in my Benz. My passenger? Johnny Lira, anarchist and former WBA Lightweight Champion, and all-round good guy. And an amazing historian, except for lack of banking knowledge. By the time we hit Vegas, Johnny Lira is PISSED.
Everyone who reads this blog already loves Johnny Lira.
I'm gonna stop payin' my mortgage. Business decision, you understand. I pay $4K a month $3K of which goes to a TARP-list servicer.
I wrote these folks awhile back, I haven't heard back shit.
Bottom line is my servicer has no rights.
"Down goes Frazier."
I hope this is not your 4 acres of "salvation" you are talking about, but it does ring of a very interesting plot. I think I would like to have a autographed edition when you are through. A friend went to court over saving his property and found out the bank was not even licensed to do business in the State, LOL.
Dewine supported the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which made it harder to bring suits to protect the pension systems against securities fraud.
DeWine joined 48 Republicans and 20 Democrats in the Senate to pass the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The legislation raised the burden of proof lawyers in private practice would have to show in cases of corporate fraud.
In short, Mike will probably be the best AG big money can buy.
He also has a proud history of liberal tendencies.
http://www.rightohio.com/2009/06/16/liberal-mike-dewine-runs-for-a/
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/7115
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6885
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2618141/posts
No, the four acres is paid for. No mortgage, no bank. I wouldn't mess around with an essential like that.
When I play the horses, I keep my bankroll in my left pocket and my walking-around money in my right. They never see the light of day at the same time. The 4 acres is my B.R. Any mortgage stunt would be a right pocket affair.
The thing I love about gambling on horses is that all you have to do is beat the betting public to win. This distinguishes horse racing from other forms of gambling that turn on luck (e.g., dice) or on your ability to beat the Vegas sharpies (sports gambling).
The easiest way to win money at the track is to wait for the public to jump all over an animal that's unworthy of the chalk. By definition, the chalkier such an animal gets, the higher the odds get for the other horses, which, if you've done your homework correctly, include the eventual race winner. As a handicapper your job is to identify a subset of horses in the field that can legitimately take the race from the chalk. Once you've done that, you look at your odds and decide whether or not to place a bet, and, if so, what type of bet to make, e.g., win, trifecta, whatever.
In deciding on a bet, you have to figure out how many ways there are to lose. Take a 10-horse field with a weak chalk, the 6 horse. If I bet on the 1 horse and 9 horse to win (called a dutch bet), there are 8 ways to lose. If I box the 1, 5, 7 & and 9 horses for an exacta, there are now 78 ways I can lose (10*9 total race outcomes minus 4*3 outcomes covered by my 1-5-7-9 box).
My job at this point is to figure out how many ways I can lose a legal bet against my servicer, which right now APPEARS to be the weakest chalk I've ever seen. To do this, I'll sit down with a local and seasoned foreclosure defense attorney to get the skinny.
Stay tuned.
In the mean time, keep your eyes open for more shit like this:
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=171940
And yeah, I saw that KD post. Just scanned it -- I'll have to see what his source is.
PARDON! LIVINGLIES OBTAINS WALL STREET PLAYBOOK: MERS TO BE LEGITIMIZED BY ACT OF CONGRESS
http://livinglies.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/pardon-livinglies-obtains-wall-street-playbook-mers-to-be-legitimized-by-act-of-congress/
And cheyenne, keep me updated on your 'idea'...
Some of your readers say they can feel something crazy coming down the pike. They are correct.
Something nutty is on the way.
Cheyenne: Johnny, yoy ever had a gun pulled on you?
JL: Of course. I been shot twice. So yeah.
C: Where'd you get popped?
JL; In the chest, with a 38, for the first time at least. I was 17 or 18.
So we're going to Vegas. My plan at this point is to stop paying my mortgage, take the extra dough, and gamble it. Is that not what Wall Street did? Except I'm not a pussy and won't require a bailout. It'll be Cheyenne's and Lira's Las Vegas bailout, starring unpaid mortgage funds. Why not take $10K and slam it on red?
You hear that, you Wall Street eunuchs? We're bringing a crew to fuck your shit up. So get ready. We ain't playing games.
A constitutional republic and representative democratic government legislates to legalize crimes committed by the elite minority against the majority of the citizens...........No Way! Not in the U.S.A.
Yes Way.....If this comes to pass, guess what Americans you are now living in a fascist corporatocracy.
Welcome to the future. Power and wealth for the few by law, scraps and servitude for the many.
I wonder if those idiots in Washington realize how close they are to going to far and starting something they can't stop.
A look back in history would indicate they probably don't have a clue. They never do till it's way to late.
Just in case you actually do this - i'm not doubting you, i'm just naturally concerned because i don't want to feel guilty if shit goes wrong...- but back to my point, you need to start saving everything you have written so far in this thread in a word file or something...combined, they will be the first post in the series...know what i'm saying...
what i'm reprinting below is pure genius as were some of your lines from last night...
---
Will do, DB. I was drinking with Lira tonight during a job interview. He's on board.
Some of your readers say they can feel something crazy coming down the pike. They are correct.
Something nutty is on the way.
Cheyenne: Johnny, yoy ever had a gun pulled on you?
JL: Of course. I been shot twice. So yeah.
C: Where'd you get popped?
JL; In the chest, with a 38, for the first time at least. I was 17 or 18.
So we're going to Vegas. My plan at this point is to stop paying my mortgage, take the extra dough, and gamble it. Is that not what Wall Street did? Except I'm not a pussy and won't require a bailout. It'll be Cheyenne's and Lira's Las Vegas bailout, starring unpaid mortgage funds. Why not take $10K and slam it on red?
You hear that, you Wall Street eunuchs? We're bringing a crew to fuck your shit up. So get ready. We ain't playing games.