Massachusetts foreclosure class action to resume
A statewide class action in which Massachusetts homeowners accuse U.S. Bancorp and Ally Financial Inc. of faulty foreclosures will resume now that the state's high court ruled in a similar case last week.
The litigation was on hold while the Supreme Judicial Court decided whether state law required foreclosures to be conducted by the mortgage owner. The high court ruled Jan. 7 in U.S. Bank v. Ibanez that an industry practice allowing post-foreclosure assignments violated state law.
The Minneapolis-based company was sued as overseer of a mortgage-backed trust.
"This is a statewide class action and it's going to bring relief to all of the people who are dispossessed homeowners in many instances," Kevin Costello, a lawyer for the borrowers, said in a telephone interview today. Costello said he will file a motion to restart the case today.
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Claims of wrongdoing by banks and loan servicers triggered a 50-state investigation last year into whether hundreds of thousands of foreclosures were properly documented as the housing market collapsed. Unwinding of foreclosures may lead to loan workouts with homeowners or force originators to buy back loans that ended up in mortgage-backed securities.
Teri Charest, a U.S. Bancorp spokeswoman, didn't have an immediate comment.
Gina Proia, a spokeswoman for Detroit-based Ally Financial, didn't immediately return a call for comment.
The case is Manson v. GMAC Mortgage LLC, 08-cv-12166, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).