Foreclosure Frenzy: Bank Of America Sues Bank Of America

[jimmy olsen]

Two lawyers? How wasteful, they can get by one.

"Your Honor, when I wear the black hat I'm the plaintiff, and when I wear the white one I'm the defendant."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2012/04/11/foreclosure-frenzy-bank-of-america-sues-bank-of-america/

Foreclosure Frenzy: Bank Of America Sues Bank Of America

Here's a sign of just how big and messy the foreclosure problem is: Bank of America has sued itself at least nine times in the month of April.
Photo of Bank of America ATM Machine by Brian ...

That's what lawyer and fraud expert Lynn Szymoniak discovered recently during a search for foreclosure filings in Palm Beach county Florida."There are likely at least 100 examples of the same thing happening across the state," Szymoniak says.

The Huffington Post, which reported this story earlier today, cites one example in which the bank "is seeking to foreclose on a condominium and names the condo owner and Bank of America as defendants in the suit. The company is literally seeking damages from itself in order to foreclose on the condo owner."

An email to a BofA spokesperson has yet to be answered. But the bank said this to HuffPost: "We are servicing the first mortgage on behalf of an investor and we own the second mortgage," Bank of America spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens told HuffPost. "Naming the second-lien holder in the suit is necessary to eliminate the junior interest," Bauwens said.

But Szymoniak says it sounds like "poor lawyering" on the part of BofA. She adds, "Someone was  likely looking at the records to find anyone who could possibly have interest in the foreclosure suits. Bank of America probably owned the second mortgage and because they were using people who were simply filling out forms rather than using brain matter they just listed everyone including the bank itself."

There's a legal problem with suing yourself however. Szymoniak explains the so-called lack of adversary concept where a case cannot proceed if the parties are not truly adverse. "They can't be collusive or share the same interest," she adds. But if BofA is truly suing on behalf of investors then the concept may not apply.

As HuffPo points out, it's not the first time a big bank has gone after itself. Wells Fargo sued itself in a foreclosure suit in Florida's Hillsborough County. The bank "owned both the first and second liens on the property and ended up hiring two separate attorneys to deal with the snafu — one to bring the lawsuit and another to defend itself."

Here's one example of BofA suing itself:

[Iormlund]

[grumbler]

Law is weird sometimes.  Film at 11.

[KRonn]

I'm cheering for Bank of America in this fight!!   

[Darth Wagtaros]

Daaaamn.  BoA got served.