How Will the Ibanez Massachusetts Ruling Affect Homeowners Challenging Foreclosures in California?
A recent Massachusetts court ruling provided a major win for homeowners and a severe blow for banks trying to clear a backlog of millions of defaulted mortgages. In U.S. Bank National Association vs. Ibanez, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court invalidated two foreclosure sales based on a break in chain of title from the originating lender who sold the mortgage to the homeowner to the foreclosing lender. This is a significant ruling since it could affect millions of mortgages across the country (it is estimated there are about $8.9 trillion in total U.S. mortgage-related securities). Ruling in favor of the homeowners, the court in Ibanez found that the lower court did not err in concluding that the securitization documents submitted by the banks failed to demonstrate that they were the holders of the mortgages at the time of the publication of the notices and sales. The court rejected the banks’ claims that (1) that the mortgages were transferred via the pooling and servicing agree
