Virginia to join foreclosure investigation

Bank sanctioned $7,500 for wrongful foreclosure

By Peter Vieth
Published: November 1, 2012
Tags: Defamation, Federal Courts, Foreclosure, Judge B. Waugh Crigler

A bank that paid $70,000 to settle a defamation action after mistakenly starting foreclosure proceedings against a Rockingham County woman has been ordered to pay an additional $7,500 for its delay in delivering the settlement checks. U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Waugh Crigler found Bank of America “willfully failed to comply” with both the terms of [...]

Bank facing sanctions for delays in foreclosure case

By Peter Vieth
Published: October 25, 2012
Tags: Federal Courts, Foreclosure, Judge B. Waugh Crigler, Real Estate, Rockingham County Circuit Court

Lawyers for a struggling Rockingham County homeowner are asking a judge to get tough with Bank of America N.A. for dragging its feet on payment after settling a foreclosure lawsuit. A U.S. magistrate judge entered a sanctions show-cause requiring BoA to explain repeated delays in complying with court orders to carry out the settlement. A [...]

Attorneys, notaries on the hot seat over foreclosure filings

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: May 10, 2011
Tags: Foreclosure, Law Firms

A Baltimore judge wants answers about signatures on foreclosure documents, and a Virginia law firm was summoned into court. Tough questions about the origin and authenticity of questionable signatures on foreclosure documents continued for a third consecutive day in Baltimore City Circuit Court Monday, this time with employees of Virginia-based Shapiro & Burson LLP taking [...]

Just who can foreclose?

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 23, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Foreclosure, Judge Albert Diaz, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Real Estate, Supreme Court of Virginia News

Foreclosure activity in Virginia has been steady for the past few years. But beneath the routine hammer-down on a debtor’s home, a question has lurked. What if the basic process used in Virginia to move these properties through the pipeline has been faulty? What if the selling of mortgage-backed securities on the secondary market means [...]

Only one bill remains in foreclosure reform

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: February 14, 2011
Tags: Foreclosure, General Assembly

All that’s left of foreclosure reform in this session of the General Assembly is a measure that would create a civil cause of action against a person who knowingly uses a false document in support of foreclosure. Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, was the patron of the Senate Bill 837, which would create a civil cause [...]

Common ground sought on foreclosure reform

By Peter Vieth
Published: February 7, 2011
Tags: Foreclosure, General Assembly

Bankers and consumer advocates were negotiating last week to see if a deal might produce some form of foreclosure reform in this year’s General Assembly. Foreclosure reform bills foundered in the House of Delegates just days after a diverse group of supporters joined forces to push for change, but Senate supporters remained hopeful that their [...]

List of foreclosure reform bills is long

By Peter Vieth
Published: January 21, 2011
Tags: Foreclosure, General Assembly

A long list of far-reaching foreclosure reform bills at the 2011 General Assembly has set the stage for a showdown between Virginia bankers and mortgage reformers from both parties. Among the measures in the hopper are bills to transform Virginia into a judicial foreclosure state and to undermine the use of a Virginia-based firm to [...]