A homeowner can make a motion to dismiss the bank’s lawsuit in a foreclosure case based on a jurisdictional basis or the fact that there are meritorious defenses to the complaint submitted by the bank. Examples of a basis for dismissing the lawsuit brought by the financial institution are: lack of standing, failure to obtain proper service on the defendants, violation of the statute of limitations, fraud in the inducement and various other defenses and affirmative defenses available to homeowners.
Cost of Foreclosure Litigation
Banks and financial institutions are worth billions of dollars. Homeowners, who work for a living, have limited financial assets to engage in sophisticated litigation with financial institutions. The financial institutions bringing the foreclosure lawsuit are spending money belonging to their shareholders. On the other side of the situation, the homeowner is putting his hands in his own pocket to fight the foreclosure lawsuit. It is therefore important for the attorneys for the homeowners to maximize the impact of their legal action and litigate the matter in the most cost efficient means. It should be pointed out, in my experience, bank’s are often prepared to spend more than $25,000.00 bringing motions to obtain a foreclosure judgment against homeowners to cause their home to be sold. This puts a heavy financial burden on the homeowner to defend against these motions.
Conclusion
There is a process during the litigation of a foreclosure lawsuit where each party can make motions asking the Judge prior to a trial to grant them relief. The bank asks for relief in a motion for summary judgment and/or judgment of foreclosure and sale and the homeowner usually brings a motion to dismiss the litigation. If you are facing foreclosure, the best way to deal with all of the issues and problems is to hire an experienced dedicated foreclosure attorney.
Elliot S. Schlisel is the managing partner of Schlissel DeCorpo LLP. He has been representing homeowners in foreclosure lawsuits, helping them obtain mortgage modifications and dealing with numerous other problems related to improper conduct of financial institutions for more than 30 years. He can be reached for a free consultation at 800-344-6431 or e-mailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.
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