On May 7, 2012, Judge Robert J. Jonker of the United States District Court, Western District of Michigan dismissed Fannie Mae’s Motion for Summary Judgment in the case of Pablo Bocardo and Guadalupe Bocardo v. Select Portfolio Services and The Federal National Mortgage Association. (Docket # 1:12-cv-177) and is allowing this to go to trial.
Judge Jonker agreed with two points that the Bocardo’s attorney, Jason Jenkinson of the Northern Michigan Law Center argued.
Jenkinson argued that denying the Bocardos the right to contest the merits of their foreclosure after their redemption period would violate their due process rights under Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Jonker agreed by stating, “…from my perspective, standing is an Article III jurisdictional issue. It deals with injury in fact first of all. And I can’t imagine anybody better than the party that says they are entitled to lawful possession of the house because something was wrong with foreclosure process.”
During the investigation leading up to the lawsuit, Steve Dibert of MFI-Miami discovered a memo from Fannie Mae to their mortgage servicers stating Fannie Mae’s ownership interest.
“This discovery allowed Jason to question whether the proper party in this matter foreclosed on the Bocardo’s home and if Fannie Mae has the authority to evict,” explained Dibert.
By denying The Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, Judge Jonker ultimately forwarded the idea that further inquiry was needed to determine whether Michigan Statute MCL 600.3204 was violated by the alleged foreclosure and/or the improper attempt to evict
After the decision, Jenkinson commented that “it’s refreshing to see that someone is willing to look into how the foreclosure mills spearheaded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been working overtime to throw people out of their homes. Hopefully this will lead to more attempts by the banks to modify deserving homeowners.”
Bocardo Transcript 5-15-12
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