The Service Members Civil Relief Act prevents financial institutions from bringing foreclosure proceedings against individuals in the United States Armed Forces. The Justice Department is currently investigating allegations that a division of Morgan Stanley that handles mortgages improperly foreclosed on more than twenty-four military families between 2006 and 2008, in violation of the Service Members Civil Relief Act.
Service Members Civil Relief Act
Pursuant to the Service Members Civil Relief Act, a court must be convened and a Judge must hold a hearing before a foreclosure can be initiated. At the hearing, the member of the Armed Services can be represented by an attorney. The lender must obtain a court order to move forward with foreclosure proceedings.
Sargeant James B. Hurley
Sargeant Hurly was stationed in Iraq. In December of 2005, he returned to his home in Hartford, Michigan. What he found shocked him. His home had been foreclosed and sold to someone else. He brought a lawsuit against Sackson Mortgage Service, which is a sub-division of Morgan Stanley. He claimed that his home had been foreclosed and sold at auction in violation of the Civil Relief Act. Sackson eventually settled the case with him by paying him monetary damages in an undisclosed amount. There are currently approximately twenty-two other cases pending against Sackson. It is claimed in each of those cases that they improperly foreclosed on homes of individuals in active duty in the military service of the United States.
Our law office helps individual whose homes are being foreclosed. We litigate foreclosure proceedings involving defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending and other real estate related issues. We attend foreclosure court conferences on behalf of our clients. We also represent clients in the preparation of mortgage modifications and we deal with mortgage modification programs that fail to meet our clients needs. We litigation foreclosure bankruptcy issues. We file either Chapter 7 bankruptcies or Chapter 13 bankruptcies on behalf of our clients when we feel this is an effective strategy to deal with their financial situation. We provide our clients with a thorough education as to what their foreclosure options are. Feel free to call us at your earliest convenience for a consultation. Thank you for reading our foreclosure blog.