Why New York Foreclosures Are Grinding to a Halt

Some excerpts from the report…

On Oct. 20, New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman ended robo-signing in New York state foreclosures by requiring a special affirmation from the banks’ attorneys. They now must swear that they know the banks’ documents are true because they checked the paperwork.

Further Affirmations Required


Similarly, on Dec. 1, Suffolk County Supreme Court Judge Peter Fox Cohalan issued an order dismissing all 127 foreclosures pending before him because the banks’ attorneys hadn’t filed the affirmation. While all the cases can be refiled once the banks documents are in order, Cohalan’s order requires the banks to go beyond the Lippman affirmation. In his court at least, a bank employee is going to have to sign an affirmation even more detailed than what Judge Lippman ordered for lawyers. The bank affirmation comes from Cohalan’s concern with robo-signing, explains Daniel J. Murphy, Judge Cohalan’s chief law assistant.

Going forward, banks that want to foreclose in Cohalan’s court will have to have “whoever is looking at the documents provide an affidavit that the amounts are correct, the mortgage is present, the assignments of mortgage have been correctly signed and dated and the paperwork before court is accurate.” To prevent robo-signing of those affidavits, Cohalan also requires bank representatives to list every document they reviewed for the affidavit. That list must include the note, and they must explain who they are, how long they’ve been at the bank and what their educational background is.

Only Real Vice Presidents Can Sign


Murphy explains the purpose of that mini-resume is to make sure these employees understand what they’re looking at and that any “person claiming he is the vice president of the bank is in fact a vice president of the bank.” While that sounds silly — why would someone sign a document with an inaccurate title — the robo-signing scandal has exposed the practice of people signing as a vice president who have no link to the financial institution except for a resolution authorizing them to sign.

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