Massachusetts Foreclosure Defense Class Action Asks Lenders, "Who The Hell Owns These Promissory Notes???"

In Mattapan, Massachusetts, WBZ-TV Channel 38 reports:

• "I thought this was going to be my American dream," said Deborah Nicholas, looking at her Mattapan home. But two years after purchasing the green-trimmed two-family house, Deborah Nicholas is living the new American nightmare. "We are in foreclosure right now."

• Foreclosure attorney Gary Klein argues it wasn't done legally. "We're arguing there have been hundreds, maybe thousands of unlawful foreclosures in Massachusetts because the lenders don't actually own the mortgage at the time of the foreclosure," said Klein.

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• In a class action lawsuit, Klein argues her mortgage holder and others moved to foreclose before they actually had the paperwork. "Our research shows that 15 to 30 percent of foreclosures are affected by this problem. That is, in 15 to 30 percent of these cases, the lenders don't have the legal authority to foreclose at the time they begin the foreclosure process."

For more, see Thousands Of Unlawful Foreclosures In Mass.? (read story) (watch video).

For earlier articles on this story, see

• Boston Herald: Lawyer to lenders: Prove you own mortgages (or try here for a free version), and
• The Boston Globe: Lenders' right to foreclose is challenged. KappaMtgDocsMissing