Fannie Mae is attempting to evict a senior citizen who was unaware his house foreclosed on because he was in the hospital recovering from a stroke. His attorney, Perry Thompson argued that Fannie Mae lacked the legal authority because of a break in the assignment chain. Fannie Mae’s foreclosure mill attorney, Schneiderman and Sherman claim the homeowner can not question the assignment transfers if they are legitimate or not. In this case, there are at least two breaks and a forged signature on one of the assignments Perry Thompson addresses. Here are two news reports on the case. The first is from WILX in Lansing, Michigan and the second is from Todd Heywood at the Michigan Messenger.
Local Foreclosure Case Could Okay Robo-Signing
Sherene Tagharobi, WILX
Fannie Mae is taking an Ingham County home owner to court, and the federal mortgage lending giant says there’s nothing he can do about it. If Fannie Mae succeeds, this could set a frightening precedent for mortgage fraud victims across the state, and across the country.
Defense denies standing in foreclosure fraud case
Todd Heywood, Michigan Messenger
With mounting evidence of robo-signing and other alleged fraud perpetrated by banks, foreclosure law firms and others, Fannie Mae and Flagstar Bank have filed a new defense of such actions in Ingham County Circuit Court — and Ingham County Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel, Jr. is crying foul.
“What they are basically saying is they can forge an assignment and there is nothing the citizen or court can do about it. It is a brazen attempt to legalize robosigning,” says Hertel. “It’s just another example of Fannie Mae thumbing its nose at the American people, and unfortunately while they are under federal bailout we are paying for it.”
This is happening in the case of a Haslett man who suffered a stroke and fell behind on his mortgage payments. As a result, Flagstar Bank and Fannie Mae foreclosed on him and are now in the final stages of evicting him from his Haslett home, says Hertel.
Lawyers representing Flagstar and Fannie Mae put the issue this way in a court filing:
“In this case, Flagstar was and always has been the foreclosing party. MERS assigned its interest in the mortgage to the note holder. The defendant lacks standing to challenge the assignment as the defendant was not party to the assignment. The only party that may object to the language of the assignment is MERS or Flagstar Bank. Because defendant is not a party to the assignment, the defendant cannot challenge the assignment. Further, the Defendant expressly allows MERS to assign the mortgage at any time without notice per the mortgage itself.”
By this reasoning, Hertel says that he has no way to assist homeowners who are being victimized by fraudulent filings, such as robosigned documents his office has been uncovering since April.
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