Foreclosure, Mortgage and Promissory Notes

In traditional Selya style, the Circuit Judge walks us through the distinction in law and equity as he positions to answer the Plaintiff’s challenge in foreclosure proceedings.  The Plaintiff defaulted on her home loan.  Upon the default, the note holder foreclosed on her property by sale.  The Plaintiff challenged the foreclosure  which started in the Land Court, but eventually the matter wound up in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.  Judge Selya delivers an observed and pointed opinion on beneficial interest of the loan and bare legal title of mortgage.  The ruling is limited to Massachusetts at it is premised on the state statutes and interpertations thereof.  The Plaintiff failed in her appeal as Judge Selya delivered that “the MERS framework is faithful to the age-old tenets of mortgage law in Massachusetts and that, therefore, the foreclosure here was not unlawful.”  Full opinion: Culhane v. Aurora Loan Services of Nebraska