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Spotlight Article: California Supreme Court Holds that Borrowers Have Standing to Challenge an Allegedly Void Assignment of the Note and Deed of Trust in an Action for Wrongful Foreclosure

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court held in Yvanova v. New Century Mortgage Corp, Case No. S218973 (Cal. Sup. Ct. February 18, 2016) that borrowers have standing to challenge an allegedly void assignment of a note and deed of trust in an action for wrongful foreclosure. In reaching this decision, the Court reversed the rule followed by the overwhelming majority of California courts that borrowers lacked such standing. The Court’s decision may have broad ramifications for lenders, investors, and servicers of California loans.

The Court’s Holding

In Yvanova, the borrower challenged the validity of her foreclosure on the ground that her loan was assigned into a securitized trust after the trust closing date set forth in the applicable pooling and servicing agreement, allegedly rendering the assignment void. To date, California courts have rejected hundreds of similar claims. In Yvanova, the Court held that “a borrower who has suffered a nonjudicial foreclosure does not lack standing to sue for wrongful foreclosure based on an allegedly void assignment merely because he or she was in default on the loan and was not a party to the challenged assignment.” Slip. Op. at 2. The Court’s ruling thus breathes new life into this favorite theory of the foreclosure defense bar.

The Court’s Reasoning

The Court acknowledged that the majority of California courts have held that borrowers do not have standing to challenge an allegedly void assignment because they are neither parties to, nor intended beneficiaries of, the assignment. Rather than adopt the majority approach, the Court based much of its decision on Glaski v. Bank of America, 218 Cal.App.4th 1079 (2013), in which the Fifth District Court of Appeal, on substantially similar facts, held that the question of standing turned on whether the alleged defect in the assignment, if proven, would render the assignment void altogether or merely voidable. Slip. Op. at 12. The parties to a voidable assignment have the power to ratify the defective assignment; parties to a void assignment have no such power. Id., at 10. In the former case, the Court would deny standing because the borrower would be asserting interests belonging solely to the parties to the assignment: only they have the power to ratify the assignment. Id. In the latter case, involving an allegedly void assignment, there would be no power of ratification, and thus the borrower would not be “asserting the interests of parties to the assignment; she [would be] asserting her own interest in limiting foreclosure on her property to those with legal authority to order a foreclosure sale.” Id., at 21.

Potential Impact of the Court’s Decision

Although a borrower’s standing to challenge an allegedly void assignment now appears settled under California law, the full impact of the decision will likely take some time to discern. By recognizing standing to challenge allegedly void assignments, the Court has clearly invited a substantial amount of wrongful foreclosure litigation. The statute of limitations for wrongful foreclosure is at least three years and, possibly longer, if a borrower can invoke the discovery rule or equitable tolling. See Cal. Code of Civ. Proc. § 338(d). Given the large number of securitized loans that have been foreclosed upon in California within the last several years, the number of possible claimants is potentially very large.

Click here to read the full article on the Buckley Sandler InfoBytes blog.