Banks lose important case in Massachusetts High Court

In U.S. Bank v. Ibanez, 10694, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (Boston), upheld a lower court's decision that said two foreclosure actions were invalid because the banks, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co., did not prove that they owned the mortgages in question because they were improperly transferred into two mortgage-backed trusts.  The plaintiff's in this case were not the original mortgagees and failed to prove that they were in fact holders of the mortgages at the time the forecosure case was initiated.

This case deals a devastating blow to banks because they allegedly own hundreds of thousands of mortgages in the same exact fashion as this case illustrates.  The case will also guide lower courts in Massachusetts and will be persuasive in other states since the methodology in alleged mortgage ownership is conducted similarly as part of the securitization process. 

This case also provides a further glimps into bank practices and deepends the divide between their practices and state law.