State AG Comments On Team Of Volunteer Lawyers Put Together To Represent Ohio Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

U.S. News & World Report recently ran a story on how the State of Ohio is addressing its foreclosure crisis. It reports that "the state has enlisted more than 1,300 lawyers—from state agencies and the private sector—to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure by reaching agreements with lenders or, if need be, through litigation." It interviewed Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who commented on what the function of these lawyers will be:

• The lawyers will work with the borrowers to see if there are defenses to the actual foreclosure, whether there was fraud or unsuitability in the creation of the mortgage to begin with, and then to assist in two other ways: either to help litigate the case or to help structure a settlement.

• With these complex mortgage products—the adjustable rates, the no-document loans that were out there—there are all types of things in the generation of loans that give rise to defenses. And with the fact that these loans then started to become sold seven, eight, nine, 10 times in the process, there are even legitimate legal issues as to whether or not the person filing the foreclosure has the legal right to file a foreclosure because they don't have ownership of the mortgage note. [...] We just convinced a court of appeals—the 10th District Court of Appeals in Franklin County, Ohio—to find that you can't bring a foreclosure action if you don't have paper that proves that you own the house.

When asked about the progress of Ohio's initiative so far, Dann commented:

• It's been actually kind of rewarding. My uncle is a retired transactional lawyer, and he said, "I've been negotiating with banks my whole life. I am so excited about getting to do this." So he signed up, went to the training. My aunt is happy because it gets him out of the house. Here is a guy that was representing big Fortune 500 companies negotiating with their banks. All of a sudden, that playing field is about to get leveled.

For more, see How Ohio Is Tackling the Foreclosure Crisis.

For other posts that reference the failure of some mortgage lenders and their attorneys of filing mandatory loan documents when starting foreclosures, Go Here , Go Here , and Go Here.

For other posts on homeowners using Federal & state consumer protection statutes to try and undo bad mortgage loans, Go Here and Go Here.