News is just breaking that the Supreme Judicial Court has ruled against Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp in the Ibanez case. The court ruled against two specific foreclosures, but the decision has far-ranging implications for potentially thousands of foreclosures in Massachusetts. The case goes to the heart of ownership of foreclosed properties and sloppy bank processes for transferring titles. Unfortunately as the robo-signer issue shows, that “sloppy” process was widespread. Here’s the quote you need to know:
“If you own a foreclosed home with an “Ibanez” title issue, I’m afraid to say that you do not own your home anymore. The previous owner who was foreclosed upon owns it again.”–Richard Vetstein, Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog.
This is stunning stuff. Vetstein’s blog has a quick overview of his opinion on the ruling, here are the links to that and related stories.
- Ibanez Foreclosure Ruling Upheld: An Indictment Of The Securitized Mortgage System (Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog)
- SJC ruling may void thousands of foreclosures (Boston.com)
- Mass. court rules against banks in pivotal mortgage case (Boston Herald)
- Banks Lose Pivotal Massachusetts Foreclosure Case (Bloomberg)
