How to Frame TILA Rescission in Your Pleadings

In many cases it is the homeowner or their attorney that is confused about the effects of TILA rescission. It is much simpler than what I am seeing. It is an error to present it as a claim. The simple fact about TILA rescission is generally that you are still the owner of the property, free and clear of any legal encumbrance on the title. The debt still exists but the method of collection has changed because of 15 U.S.C. §1635.

Foreclosure is impossible because foreclosure is the exercise of rights under a mortgage or deed of trust that no longer legally exists.

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THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A LEGAL OPINION UPON WHICH YOU CAN RELY IN ANY INDIVIDUAL CASE. HIRE A LAWYER.
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The job of the forensic auditor in the context of TILA rescission, is simply to determine whether a notice of rescission was ever sent, when it was sent, when the loan agreement was consummated, and whether the notice of rescission was recorded in the county records. The report from a forensic auditor could quote 15 U.S.C. §1635 and then report on whether the notice of rescission complies with the facial elements of the statute.

If so, assuming the forensic reporter is not a title expert, the report could refer to the Jesinoski decision and opinions delivered by outside counsel that the property is owned by the homeowner, free and clear of the encumbrance. I do not believe the report should argue that the debt is uncollectible because enforcement is barred by a statute of limitations. That is a legal argument outside the purview of a forensic auditor.

The same instructions would apply to pleading by a homeowner or their attorney. The situation should be presented as the property is no longer encumbered by a mortgage or deed of trust that no longer legally exists. If the foreclosure is based upon enforcement of the mortgage or deed of trust legal standing does not exist by definition. Neither a court nor any claimant possesses any legal right or even argument to take any action in or out of court if that action is based upon the enforcement of a document that legally does not exist anymore.

In a lawsuit against the many parties who seek to enforce void encumbrances, the homeowner should seek declaratory, injunctive and supplemental relief based on the simple fact pattern that the mortgage or deed of trust has no legal existence but the defendants are using it anyway. Therefore the homeowner needs a judgment from the court declaring that the defendants have no right to enforce a document that has no legal existence, issuing an injunction against the defendants preventing them from taking any action in or out of court based upon rights that no longer exist, and granting the homeowner money damages, if applicable.

The prima facie case for the homeowner is simply that the notice of rescission was sent, and that the statute makes rescission effective by operation of law, and that the defendants are proceeding as though they still have a right to foreclose or to collect the debt contrary to the method for collection described in 15 U.S.C. §1635.

I think the problem could be that lawyer’s favor pleading a violation of statute and therefore present TILA rescission as a claim. This is a mistake. It is an event. The pursuit of a foreclosure is not, in my opinion, a violation of the TILA rescission statute. It is the pursuit of a claim that does not exist. The claimant does not exist is the right to foreclose. The claim that still exists is the right to collect on the debt.

There is only one party category that possesses the right to collect on the debt under the TILA rescission statute, to wit: it is a party who has paid value for the debt and therefore owns it. Theoretically the party to brought the foreclosure could be owners of the debt, but usually that is not the case. Usually they are concealing any information about the identity of the owners of the debt. The can only get away with that if a notice of rescission has not been sent. It is only the notice of rescission that removes and cancels the original loan agreement containing the right to foreclose.

Therefore any pleading, motion or argument from a party whose legal standing was dependent upon the existence of the mortgage or deed of trust must be ignored unless they first establish that they still have legal standing because they paid value for the debt and they own the debt, or because they are authorized representatives of an identified owner of the debt.

While I have stated on these pages that any facially valid notice of rescission triggers the effects of 15 USC Section 1635, it is evident that the courts, including the US Supreme Court, will take the position that only notices sent within the three year period of expiration stated in the statute have any chance of being considered. But that is the ONLY occasion in which a notice of rescission can be ignored.

As stated by many bank lawyers, ignoring notices of rescission that are properly sent within the three year expiration period will likely eventually produce a result where the parties seeking to enforce the mortgage or deed of trust can neither enforce the encumbrance nor the debt. Those bank lawyers have warned about negative effects on the derivative infrastructure that is built over such loans if the debt can no longer be enforced because it is barred by statutes of limitation. The banks chose to bully their way through this.

In my opinion the outcome of all this doubt and uncertainty is clear. Eventually the investment banks will pay a very heavy price for ignoring lawfully sent notices of TILA Rescission sent within three years from the date that the loan documents were signed.

Posted in legal standing, Pleading |