Update: Perhaps Minnesota Litigator’s report, below, of the imminent demise of the “show me the note” foreclosure defense was premature? Minnesota homeowners Steven and Tamara Gewecke make national news in a story about a supposed broadening acceptance among courts for this defense. The Geweckes’ case is before U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim and they are represented by Jane Bowman of the Housing Preservation Project (and, previously, by Mark Ireland, newly elected to the Ramsey County District Court bench).
Original Post (Nov. 23, 2010) : As homeowners nationwide face the challenge of foreclosure, some, hoping to hold onto their homes or at least to delay the outcome of their eventual eviction, have argued that lenders who foreclose must show the home-owner borrowers their original promissory note, bearing their signatures, as a prerequisite, they argue, to a lawful foreclosure.
This fairly common foreclosure defense strategy has not been very successful nationwide and is unlikely to win the day in Minnesota.
Defendant Chase Home Finance recently brought a summary judgment motion against a foreclosed home-owner (more accurately, maybe, “former home-owner”), David Robert Slipka, (before U.S. District Court Judge Joan Ericksen (D. Minn.)), surveying recent case law in the District of Minnesota for “Show me the Note” cases.
In the Slipka case, to use a poker metaphor, Chase Home “saw Slipka and called,” by actually producing Slipka’s original note for Slipka to review and inspect…