Editor’s Note: Due process requires that nobody be deprived of life, liberty or property without a judicial determination on the merits of claims against them. Non-judicial procedure runs a thin line that has not actually been tested constitutionally. Assuming it is valid by virtue of the “freedom of contract” doctrine, it still cannot be used to abuse and trick people into losing their homes when in fact the trickster has no interest in the loan, the property or the originating transaction. The attempt in Florida to increase the number of states using non-judicial procedure is abhorrent to anybody who conceives this country as a nation of laws. Non-judicial procedure is in my opinion, inapplicable to most, if not all, securitized loans.
The reason is simple: non-judicial foreclosure sales are meant to achieve judicial economy without prejudice to anyone. In securitized loans there are so many potential stakeholders that non-judicial sale prevents notice and due process and even encourages tricksters to use it against the interests of those who might have an interest. It not only increases moral hazard, it assures a growing cloud on the title of all properties that have been or will be the subject of foreclosure sales.
The pandemic effect on an already unstable marketplace is being amplified by these legislative attempts to legalize unjust enrichment of intermediaries who have no financial interest and who who are not subject to any financial loss for a loan, with it is performing or non-performing.
[…] UPDATE 04/20/10: Neil Garfield Rally in Tally: Homeowner Relief and Housing Recovery Act is a Sham and Shame […]