Update: October 5, 2010

Posted by kevin on October 5, 2010 under Foreclosure Blog | Comments are off for this article

I have spent the last 6 months or so in court handling about 20 foreclosure cases.  I want to share with you what I am seeing.  But first a little background.  The concepts that we use at FIGHTFORECLOSURENJ.COM come out of a series of bankruptcy court and state court decisions from outside of New Jersey.  The first cases came out of the bankruptcy courts in Ohio.  Then, Florida, Massachusetts, California and Missouri.  New Jersey was slow to catch on

In New Jersey, foreclosures are handled in the Superior Court, Chancery Division.  There is usually only one chancery judge per county- so the same judge hears all foreclosure cases.   In 2008 and the 2009, the chancery judges were of the mindset that if you borrowed the money and did not pay it back, you were guilty.  Concepts like predatory lending and the right to sue (called “standing”) were mere distractions.  So, the first thing that borrowers’ lawyers had to do was overcome a mindset.  It was not easy.

A year ago, some judges would tell me before I even began my argument that they read my briefs and totally disagreed with my arguments.  Not a confidence builder.  But, I trudged forward and made my arguments.  I brought in cases from other states.  I brought in government guidelines about proper and improper banking practices.  I brought in arguments concerning who had the right under the law to bring the foreclosure.  I brought in newpaper articles about banks that took advantage of their customers, about pension funds that were suing the securitized trusts because they were ripped off.

A funny thing happened.  After a few months of negative response, I was starting to get judges who seemed to be listening (and doing their homework).   They were not holding for my client, but they were demanding that the lenders bring in more and better evidence that they were entitled to the foreclosure.  In many of these cases, the lender was not able to provide the proof.  I started to get dismissals- not out and out dismissals but what is called a “dismissal without prejudice”.  In other words, the judge said that your case is thrown out.  You can bring it back but only when you have the proper proofs.

That was “our foot in the door”.  Now, with all the articles that you are reading about Indymac, JP Morgan Chase, GMAC, the judges are starting to re-think their old notion that,” you borrowed the money, you are guilty”.  We are not there yet, but are going in the right direction.

In future blogs, I will continue to update you.  Moreover, I will explain what is going on.  Not hype but the facts.  That will help you and your family make an informed decision about what to do if you are facing foreclosure.