In a new published decision, Dimke v. Farr, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has called into question the effectiveness of the statutory process for cancelling residential purchase agreements. Minnesota’s statutory cancellation process afforded sellers three primary benefits: (1) no need for court, (2) finality, and (3) certainty. Has this new decision thrown these benefits out […]

In today’s economy, it is unsurprising that we have covered several instances of challenges to mortgage loans when one of two spouses did not sign the mortgage and, on that basis, seeks to void the lender’s security interest in the property.  (See here and here.) Today, in a published opinion, the Minnesota Court of Appeals […]

It is relatively rare to have an eviction proceeding in federal court but when landlord and tenant are from different states and the stakes are high enough, it can happen. Tenant Office Depot removed an action for eviction brought against it by landlord City Center, and now finds itself before U.S. Judge Richard Kyle (D. […]

Plaintiff Margaret J. Coleman is a 68-year-old woman who lives with her 15-year-old granddaughter, a 19-year-old woman with special needs, and 22-year-old who was formerly her foster child in a single family home she has owned for nearly 40 years. That is, she has lived there for an awfully long time but a lender allegedly […]

In Minnesota, as in many states nationwide, the priority of loans secured by mortgages on real property is normally determined by the order in which the mortgages are recorded. But what if the first-in-time mortgage is recorded second through some foul-up or delay for which the first-in-time mortgage is perhaps not completely blameworthy (or worse, […]

Minnesota has a statute that dates back to the 19th century, originally passed to protect a woman from her husband’s mortgaging and losing their home without his wife’s knowledge, that requires both the husband and the wife’s signatures on mortgage loans.  Now, during the current “mortgage meltdown,” this law has become “an out” for some […]

In a sale of real property, a mortgage was properly recorded in the grantor-grantee index, but not properly recorded in the tract index in Scott County.  Purchaser hired an abstractor who looked in the tract index, but not the grantor-grantee index. Sellers did not tell purchaser about the Mid-Country mortgage to which the parcel was […]

This blog covered the action brought by Mark Ireland and the Foreclosure Relief Project in connection with the federal HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) here. News this week: the complaint was dismissed. (Twincities.com article here.) (Wall Street Journal Real Estate Blog here.) Denial of Foreclosure Relief Project Mot Prelim Inj

Latest news re: Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Class Action:  Judge Ann D. Montgomery heard argument this afternoon on plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in this putative class action on behalf of individuals who have sought government assistance to avoid foreclosure and eviction from their homes under the HAMP and have been denied that […]

A huge obstacle to resolving the U.S. credit crisis appears to be the securitization of loans, which results in a “slicing and dicing” of loans, with one party servicing a particular loan (and servicing rights bought and sold for any particular loan multiple times) and other parties as investors in the loan. With so many […]