Boyko: “A condescending mindset and quasi-monopolistic system”
A copy of Judge Christopher Boyko’s October 31 decision to throw fourteen Deutsche Bank foreclosures out of Federal District Court just showed up in my email. I’ve posted the full pdf file at Foreclosing Cleveland.
It’s pretty good reading. Here’s a taste, from Footnote 3:
Plaintiff’s, “Judge, you just don’t understand how things work,†argument reveals a condescending mindset and quasi-monopolistic system where financial institutions have traditionally controlled, and still control, the foreclosure process.
Typically, the homeowner who finds himself/herself in financial straits, fails to make the required mortgage payments and faces a foreclosure suit, is not interested in testing state or federal jurisdictional requirements, either pro se or through counsel. Their focus is either, “how do I save my home,†or “if I have to give it up, I’ll simply leave and find somewhere else to live.â€
In the meantime, the financial institutions or successors/assignees rush to foreclose, obtain a default judgment and then sit on the deed, avoiding responsibility for maintaining the property while reaping the financial benefits of interest running on a judgment. The financial institutions know the law charges the one with title (still the homeowner) with maintaining the property…
Counsel for the institutions are not without legal argument to support their position, but their arguments fall woefully short of justifying their premature filings, and utterly fail to satisfy their standing and jurisdictional burdens. The institutions seem to adopt the attitude that since they have been doing this for so long, unchallenged, this practice equates with legal compliance. Finally put to the test, their weak legal arguments compel the Court to stop them at the gate.
Tanta at Calculated Risk (who loves Footnote 3) says “Judge Boyko for President!”