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Fredrick Levin Quoted in Mortgage News Daily Article, "Legal News Impacting Lenders and Capital Markets'Not in a Good Way"

Fredrick Levin was quoted in Rob Chrisman's Mortgage News Daily article, "Legal News Impacting Lenders and Capital Markets—Not in a Good Way," on Monday, February 22, 2016.

In California (known for its fruits & nuts) late last week the California Supreme Court rendered its decision in Yvanova versus New Century Mortgage Corp. (Case No. S218973, Cal. Sup. Ct. February 18, 2016), holding that borrowers have standing to challenge an assignment of a note and deed of trust in an action for wrongful foreclosure on the ground that the assignment is void. Fredrick S. Levin, a partner with Buckley Sandler in Los Angeles, wrote saying, "This is a potentially significant decision for the mortgage industry in that it reverses the rule followed by the overwhelming majority of California courts that borrowers lacked such standing. The decision thus opens the door to lawsuits by borrowers claiming that their homes were improperly foreclosed upon by persons who allegedly lacked power under California law to institute foreclosure."

Mr. Levin further noted, "This decision has potential to increase litigation challenging securitized loans. For example, in Yvanova, the borrower challenged the validity of her foreclosure on the ground that her loans was assigned into a securitized trust after the trust closing date set forth in the pooling and servicing agreement governing the securitized trust, allegedly voiding the assignment. To date, California courts have rejected hundreds of similar claims. The Court's ruling breathes new life into this favorite theory of the foreclosure defense bar. The Court, however, left unaddressed, and thus unanswered, the question of whether this theory can survive on the merits."

Click here to read the full article at www.mortgagenewsdaily.com