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Bloomberg News
A foreclosed home is shown in the Silverado neighborhood of Las Vegas.
Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 | 11:03 a.m.
Bank of America says a Nye County judge's order blocking foreclosures throughout Nevada by a subsidiary has halted progress on more than 8,900 foreclosures -- and it wants the order overturned.
The case involves Pahrump homeowner Suzanne A. North, who sued the bank Jan. 11 charging it and subsidiaries including ReconTrust Company N.A. have been fraudulently trying to foreclose on her home.
Nye County District Court Judge Robert Lane on Jan. 20 issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against ReconTrust, ordering it not to proceed with non-judicial foreclosures in Nevada on behalf of any lender at least until a Feb. 28 hearing.
An attorney for Bank of America moved the case to federal court in Las Vegas this week and complained in a court filing Thursday that Lane's order was improper as it was issued without notice to ReconTrust and that North will ultimately fail in her lawsuit since Bank of America and ReconTrust have complied with Nevada foreclosure laws.
"The order has created enormous upheaval and confusion in the foreclosure process across Nevada and immediate review is required," said the bank's motion asking for an emergency order to dissolve Lane's order or to at least modify it so it applies to North's loan only -- not the thousands of other loans ReconTrust Company is foreclosing on in the state. "ReconTrust is trustee on thousands of loans that are in some stage of foreclosure and approximately 8,920 of such loans have already been directly affected by this injunction."
Besides that, the bank said, the order has brought to a halt all mediations under the Nevada Foreclosure Mediation Program involving ReconTrust, B of A said.
While North complained that ReconTrust filed foreclosure papers at a time when it was not the trustee, Bank of America said in Thursday's filing that ReconTrust -- a B of A subsidiary -- was acting as its agent and that procedure has been found in other cases to be proper.
"ReconTrust ... filed the notice of default not as the trustee, but rather as the agent for the beneficiary (Bank of America), pursuant to," Nevada law, the bank's filing said.
"Courts have repeatedly rejected challenges to a notice of default on the grounds that a party was substituted as trustee after it issued the notice of default when the party substituted as trustee filed the notice of default as an agent of the beneficiary, not as the trustee," the filing said.
Bank of America also disputed claims by North that ReconTrust must be licensed in Pahrump and with the state of Nevada to execute foreclosures, saying that as a national bank it's exempted from such licensing rules.
In seeking to overturn Lane's order, the bank argued:
"The cost associated with delaying one foreclosure is severe, but when multiplied by the thousands of foreclosures in Nevada that cost is enormous. In addition, (the Bank of America) defendants have contractual obligations to investors and other obligations to regulators to conduct foreclosure proceedings," the bank's filing said.
"The harm caused to the public interest is overwhelming. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner opined that ceasing the foreclosure process is `very damaging' and harms the public as communities are forced to live longer with empty homes, there is increased downward pressure on home prices and increasing blight," the bank argued. "The order also harms those subject to the foreclosure process because those individuals, especially those in mediation trying to stay in their homes, are now forced into a state of limbo for an unspecified duration."
Bank of America and its subsidiaries are represented in the litigation by Las Vegas attorney Ariel Stern of the law firm Akerman Senterfitt LLP.
It's unclear when the federal court may rule on its motion.
North, who initially represented herself in the case, is now working with St. George, Utah, attorney John Christian Barlow, who couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Barlow told Bloomberg News he will seek class-action status for the lawsuit to represent other homeowners facing foreclosure by ReconTrust.
"If a company’s going to foreclose, they’ve got to do it right," he told Bloomberg.
just another artificial delay of the inevitable...
just means it will take longer to get to the bottom...
seems to me we would be better off just to rip the damn band aid off...
bottom out faster...
and then begin to rebuild...
Time to shut BofA down in Nevada.
"The Kingdom of Nye Reigns Supreme"
If you can't prove you own it, you can't foreclose on it..so tough luck BofA.
Birdie....so true....if you can't pay, get out of the way...its not yours. The sooner we hit bottom the sooner we begin to rebuild.
Follow Chavez's idea. The poor should squat in the wealthy houses to bring equity to Las Vegas.
What would be great here is a FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERING A PERMANENT RESTRAINING ORDER....
If you can't afford to own it, let the next guy take a shot.
If Bank of America does not heed the call of its mortgage customers to come to the table and negotiate either reduced interest rates or reduced principal balances, there will eventually be bloodshed. So's to head off the smug and predictable warnings that I can be held responsible for fomenting violence, I'm not threatening to perpetrate violence against this august and upstanding corporate citizen of our state, merely predicting that if B of A does not change its customary thuggish, underhanded and unprincipled business model someone will resort to a "Second Amendment remedy," as Sharron Angle so eloquently put it. Someone who has lost his job, is out of unemployment benefits, possibly has had a marriage break up over the current financial disaster, is unwilling to assume the responsibility for his part in the crisis and has no hope for the future is going to take the law into his own hands, drag one of these corporate crooks from his corner office into the street and beat him with a tire tool.
Not threatening, ya understand, merely predicting the near, very near future.
Start the foreclosures so prices drop and I can finally buy my retirement condo/stabbin cabin!
To Bobglover: Your comment is interesting. Now that I think about it, I am surprised it hasn't allready happened.
It,s funny. Everyone was OK with their home loan when they planned to FLIP it. Now, no one can afford to live in their house UNLESS, the bank eats the loss. If you cant afford to live in your house.MOVE THE HELL OUT AND LET THEM SELL IT TO SOMEONE ELSE!!! Yes, they get it cheap and you get a bad credit rap. Else, Man up and keep dropping the money down the pit. If they give a few people mods for devalue, we will All want one. What will that do to retirement accounts? This is not vapor money. Someone paid it,and they want it back.
So you don't think i am naive. Obama seriously FU when he gave the banks billions, with no strings and trusted them to do the right thing. Money all gone banks fat again . Paying back TARP money at record speed and bus. as usual.Dont expect help from the bank. They get paid twice when they take your house. Tarp funds . FHA funds. Then they sell the house. If you are truly screwed, they will come after and sue you for deficit. Up until now they only had two mos. Keep your eyes open for a change to that real soon. If you are going to bail, do it NOW. Just sayin'
We finally got a meeting "at the table with BofA" after months of being jerked around...Ya know what? BofA didn't show up and after the judge saw all our paperwork we documented - the judge was P.O'ed at BofA and we got what we needed done..imagine going through the hassle and then, they not showing up? The suck as a BANK !!! As soon as we can, we are moving accounts to a Credit Union..
The economy would recover faster if ppl filed for bankruptcy and got out from under their insurmountable financial obligations.
Happy, Never said you were in trouble, did you ? "What we needed done", does not demonstrate need. Just selfishness. I didnt want to pay for my house anymore so, i want someone else to take the bite.Somewhere you dont know, a 80 year old will get a letter saying that her annuity payment will not be coming anymore. Go You! , my friend.
I don't lose my temper easily nor do I care to engage in politically charged rhetoric. However, I have been reading comments regarding this & other foreclosure stories. I gotta say some of the people dumping on those less fortunate are starting to get under my skin. Some truly ignorant comments.
To those that are sitting on their high horses I hope that when you bought your home (or should I say financed it) you had the full purchase price socked away in savings or have a job / career that is 100% immune to a prolonged recession or have family trust funds you can turn to or etc.
Did you have the foresight in 2006 that over the next 4 years your home's value would drop 60%, that the local economy would affect your job so bad that even with a conservative outlook and prudently managing your personal finances you would still never recover to even 50% of what you used to earn?
According to those that claim to be SO responsible, am I really to believe for example that you made $100k per year for over a decade and still had the foresight to only buy a $50k house in year 10? Please....the hindsight views are comical.
I do side with those angry at the speculators who bought up homes and then walked. That is something that should never have been allowed. Homes are not an investment, they are HOMES. Loans should have only been given to those that were actually going to live in the home (and could prove it).
Just know that there are good, honest hard working people that happened to be legitimate home buyers around the peak prices of 2006-2007, who didn't overextend on the home they could afford, who saw their business meltdown in the economic collapse, had to take jobs in other industries at a fraction of the pay rate and used savings to maintain their mortgage obligation for 4 years and are feeling helpless as the bank played games with a genuine need for a modification.
I hope those who say things like "move the hell out" are never put in a position were collateral damage affects their livelihood. Simple rule I was taught as a child...you have no right to judge others.
MikeDubs,
BRAVO!
What? No killerb comments on this yet,,lol
peace out
reference above will not translate to some of you,to others it will.
If you can provide the Note then you can foreclose - otherwise tough luck BofA. Let's have Mark to Market reforms where the Banks must show the actual value of all of their properties on their Books. Currently the Banks are just running another stockholder swindling scheme with no transparency.
You try borrowing money on the perceived value of your home in 2006. Cazy isn't it - however the Banks are allowed to do it every day and even pay their CEO's bonuses on it.
This Pahrump home owner is not gonna win this lawsuit & the foreclosures will resume. I actually agree with B of A. B of A is running a business & not a charitable institution. If you fall 5 months behind on your mortgage-end of ballgame. It's very unfortunate-but that's life.
Eight years of Bush economics, giving tax breaks to the wealthy and creating a new, "streamlined" economy devoid of Government Regulations. "Get Government Out of Business" so they can operate more efficiently.
The people who say "Government is the Problem" created this mess and now we have a new Governor that says the same thing!
The Jackass Rabbit should be voted in as the new State animal.
how do the wealthy get a "tax break" when they are already taxed at a higher rate than everyone else?
Overturn the bank bailout first
Bof A finds out, to its surprise and outrage, that it doesn't own all the courts after all. Poor lil megabank!
"how do the wealthy get a "tax break" when they are already taxed at a higher rate than everyone else?"
Wellll, stevem, it's called basic math. If middle class worker bee makes x dollars a year, and pays a tax rate of y percent, and Greedy Fat Crook makes 450% of x dollars per year, but only pays 125% of y percent tax rate, we call that INEQUITY. Yes, more actual dollars in tax paid, but nowhere near the share it should be. By the way, the other "hidden truth" is that the richer and more financially active you are, the more likely you are to use a greater share of services that tax dollars provide.
It's a little trick the rich have where they use their massive profits to buy politicians and the press and try and convince everyone they are the victims. Oh, and before you try the B.S. "they earned it" argument, most of the time they are using methods that are usually borderline legal at best to make the money. The truth is there are very, very few multi millionaires and billionaires that have not manipulated the market somehow to "earn" their money.
Oh and by the way, if everyone would put down the video controller and turn off the big game once in a while and pick up a history book, they would realize the following:
A capitalist system is inherently biased towards the wealthy. A democratic system allows for greater freedom with less social responsibility. Put the two together and you have the formula for a two class system of very wealthy, whose wealth gives them a controlling interest and the power to exercise it, and the rest who while classified as "middle class" and "poor" are actually working poor to support and subsidize the wealthy business class. Without that bottom layer to "process" the income and products the entire economy would collapse.
newnvres Someone should take a shot at you and your home,if you have one.
Mr. Glover,...your spot on,...and as we'll see in the near future if this train wreck is not fixed nationwide,...that kind of activity will increase tenfold. Pressure to survive will cause some "giant snapping sounds",...not to be confused with Mr. Perot's giant sucking sounds we've already heard.
How low can we as a country go,...dunno, whats lower than third world and why as a country are we racing to reach it?
As for Bank Of America,...spin on it,...your a BIG part of the entire problem,...damn sure not a solution to it.
The reason that it was halted by the courts is that Nevada is a title theory state which means the deed is recorded by the one taking the loan,
The foreclosure can only be started by the mortgage company that holds the mortgage not a third party. Unless the third party is a trust, Then it can do so, How ever these companies that are starting the process are nothing more that a document storage facility and nothing more. They are presenting them selves as a ostensible trust.
A lot of the posting pro-BOA are generalizing negatively against those truly in need and it's sad. I sincerely hope those pro-BOA don't become unemployed or have a serious tragedy happen in their lives....on second thought, maybe something tragic should happen...so they can walk in our shoes.
Make your monthly payment and you will have no problems. Even after a layoff, I found a way to keep my payments up. Of course, I bought within my means, so the payments are not too bad (less than rent would cost).
The bad economy, layoff has changed my lifestyle (meaning I spend a lot less, A LOT LESS), but my bills are still paid on time.
BofA has been no problem at all.