The Florida Supreme Court released an opinion in Glass v. Nationstar, SC17-1387 with widespread implications in contract litigation, and mortgage foreclosure litigation in particular, as it relates to attorney's fee entitlement. In Nationstar Mortgage LLC v. Glass, 219 So. 3d 896 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017) the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that where a borrower prevails on the issue of standing, the borrower cannot utilize the attorney's fee provisions of the note and mortgage to secure prevailing party attorney's fees. The rationale for this decision seemed simple, if the ...
Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal continued to broadly apply the holding in Nationstar Mortgage LLC v. Glass, 219 So. 3d 896, 898 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017), review granted, SC17-1387, 2018 WL 2069328 (Fla. Feb. 13, 2018) in a recent appeal handled by Burr & Forman.
In Wells Fargo Bank v. Moccia, a foreclosure action was dismissed based upon evidence that the borrower had entered into a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure agreement with the prior servicer. The order of dismissal reserved jurisdiction to enforce the deed-in-lieu agreement. The borrower then moved for attorney's fees ...
Today, Florida's Fifth DCA and Second DCA issued two seminal opinions; Klebanoff v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, and Huntington National Bank v. Watters, which clarify the cloud of uncertainty that had engulfed the statute of limitations issue in Florida and provide a strong basis for lenders that are filing subsequent foreclosures of the same loan based on the same initial default date.
In Klebanoff, the Bank filed its foreclosure action in 2014 alleging that the Klebanoff's defaulted for failing to make the March 1, 2009 payment and all subsequent payments due thereafter. Klebanoff v. Bank ...
In a recent opinion, the Second District Court of Appeal explained its approval of agency relationship to establish that a plaintiff is entitled to foreclose as "holder" of the original note under Florida Statute Section 673.3011(1). Phan v. Deutsche Bank Nat'l Trust Co., Case No. 2D14-3364, 2016 WL 746400 (Fla. 2d DCA Feb. 26, 2016). Recounting the relevant facts of this case, Deutsche Bank initiated a foreclosure action against Ms. Ngoc Phan on April 28, 2009, alleging she failed to make the loan payments on her Pinellas County home since January 1, 2009. Ms. Phan denied the Bank's ...