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Foreclosure Case - Judge Strikes Debt Completely In NY

By M. Stan Herring

Here is a fascinating story about an outraged judge who sanctioned a mortgage company by destroying the note and ruling that the homeowners do not owe any more money.

[Judge] Spinner excoriated OneWest for repeatedly refusing to work out a deal, for misleading him about the dollar amounts at stake in the case, and for its treatment of the couple over months of hearings.

OneWest's conduct was "inequitable, unconscionable, vexatious and opprobrious," Spinner wrote.

He canceled the debt because the bank "must be appropriately sanctioned so as to deter it from imposing further mortifying abuse against [the couple]."

The bank is involved in a similar case in California, where it's trying to foreclose on an 89-year-old woman, despite two court orders telling it to stop.

This is an extreme case - and it may be justified by the mortgage company's conduct - so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

We expect more rulings along these lines to come down as the spotlight is directly on these mortgage companies that took government money and then use unfair means to try and take homes away from families.

We'll keep you posted.

If you live in Alabama and are facing foreclosure or fraudulent conduct by a mortgage company, please feel free to contact us for more information on your rights.

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on November 27, 2009 (boomark / email).