After the recent dismissal of 14 foreclosure cases by a federal judge in Cleveland, another federal judge in Ohio has given lenders 30 days to prove that they own the properties they intend to seize from troubled homeowners in 27 other cases.
The second judge, Thomas M. Rose of Federal District Court, in Dayton, ruled Thursday that while the lawyer filing 26 of the cases had claimed his clients owned the properties at the time the foreclosures began, he had not submitted the necessary proof to the court.
“Failure in the future by this attorney to comply with the filing requirements,” Judge Rose said, “may only be considered to be willful.”
Taken with Judge Christopher A. Boyko’s dismissal of 14 cases in Cleveland last month, the latest ruling indicates that some courts are growing tougher on lenders foreclosing on delinquent borrowers without providing proof of ownership.
It has long been a common practice for lenders to bring foreclosure proceedings without attaching proof of ownership of the underlying note. Tracking down such documentation may be more challenging because of securitization, the pooling of mortgages into trusts that are subsequently sold to investors.
Citibank is trustee in one case overseen by Judge Rose; it represents a securitization trust sold in 2005 by First Franklin, a loan originator now owned by Merrill Lynch. At issue in the case is a mortgage on a property in Miamisburg, Ohio, for $191,000. The borrower defaulted in August 2006.
Another case involves HSBC, which is foreclosing on a $144,000 mortgage on a property in Dayton. The mortgage was underwritten in 2004 and has been in default since October 2006.
A Citigroup spokeswoman said the company did not comment on pending litigation. An HSBC spokeswoman said the bank had not studied the ruling and could not comment.
An estimated two million families may lose their homes to foreclosure in the coming years, specialists say. A recent study of 1,733 foreclosures by Katherine M. Porter, an associate professor of law at the University of Iowa, found that 40 percent of the creditors foreclosing on borrowers did not show proof of ownership.
Such proof gives a creditor standing to foreclose against a borrower and is required by law.
Judge Rose cited Ms. Porter’s study in his ruling.
