Well this is kind of interesting:
According to a Washington Post article by Zachary Goldfarb, Stuart Rabner, the chief justice of the New Jersey State Supreme Court announced that he would stop all foreclosures by major banks unless they can definitively show that they are complying with state law when foreclosing. On the one hand that statement is ridiculous, compliance with the law is not and should not be considered exceptional behavior from anyone. However, there is ample evidence that many laws are/have been skirted or ignored during the foreclosure process, so I see this development as a positive step.
Judge Rabner also assigned Judge Mary C. Jacobson to oversee foreclosure issues in New Jersey. Judge Jacobson has issued an order for representatives from six banks (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, OneWest Bank, Citigroup, and Ally Financial) to testify in court as to why the state should not suspend foreclosures. These banks were singled out due to a “public record of questionable practice”. There have been 65,000 foreclosures in New Jersey this year, of those, almost half were filed by the aforementioned lenders. While we have seen representatives from major lenders testify in front of Congress over foreclosure fraud, I believe this is the first time they have been called into a state supreme court.
Judge Rabner commented in a press release:
“Today’s actions are intended to provide greater confidence that the tens of thousands of residential foreclosure proceedings underway in New Jersey are based on reliable information. Nearly 95 percent of those cases are uncontested, despite evidence of flaws in the foreclosure process.
For judges to sign an order foreclosing on a person’s home, they must first be able to rely on the accuracy of documents submitted by lenders. That step is critical to the integrity of the judicial process.”
To me, this is a welcome development in the foreclosure/robo-signing mess. In addition to the six major lenders, 24 smaller lenders will have to submit documentation to the court that they were complying with state law in their foreclosure processes. It is going to be intriguing to see where this all ends up, but it is good to know that at least some members of the judiciary are trying to ensure that large corporations are being held to the same standard as the rest of us when it comes to following the law.
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dani
June 27, 2011 @ 10:58 am
GOD BLESS CHIEF JUSTICE STUART RABNER FOR FIGHTING FOR THE PEOPLE OF N.J AGAINST BANKS FRAUD,NJ NEED MORE BRAVE JUDGES LIKE HIM,NOT CAWARD JUDGES THAT RUBBER STAMP COURT CASSES FOR THE BULLY BANKS THAT ARE FRAUD.WE HAVE RECENTLY SEEN IN BERGEN COUNTY N.J JUDGE MARY THURBER AWARD A BANK
A HOME WITHOUT INSSISTING ON THAT BANK TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE THAT THEY EVEN OWN THE MORTGAGE,JUDGES LIKE HER MUST BE TRWEN AWAY AND INVESTIGATED WHILE HEROS LIKE JUDGE RABNER
MUST BE SUPRTTED AND PROMOTED.
THANK YOU JUDGE RABNER FOR STANDING FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE IN NJ
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