Posts Tagged ‘Robosigners’

How We Learned of Robosigners

Friday, October 15th, 2010

The home foreclosure that halted other foreclosures nationwide, that of Mrs. Nicolle Bradbury of Maine, is the subject of a compelling article in the New York Times. Mrs. Bradbury’s mortgage lender, General Motors Acceptance Corporation, is now making its third attempt to foreclose on the home. Mrs. Bradbury would today be homeless but for the determined work of a pro bono attorney who deposed an employee of GMAC Mortgage. It was through this deposition that we learned that contrary to his sworn statements, the employee had no knowledge of Mrs. Bradbury’s case as he was preparing 400 foreclosures each day. Thus, the term “robo-signer” entered our lexicon.

The judge who heard the foreclosure case censured GMAC for its failure to comply with the directive of a Florida court four years ago for its unacceptable use of robo-signers. GMAC’s lawyers asked the court to place the incriminating deposition of its employee under court seal and to delete the transcript of the deposition from any online posting. The brazen nature of that request speaks volumes about the abuse of corporate power. The New York Times, to its credit, posted the deposition online if you wish to download it, click here.

We still don’t have clarity on whether these practices were common to commercial mortgage as well as residential ones. If your small business owns a mortgage and you are in arrears on your payments, you should consult legal counsel immediately.