Successful law firms cultivate, among other things, professional referral sources and a reputation for responding to client needs. Can these best practices be taken too far? This topic came up in a federal court opinion issued in a class action lawsuit brought by home loan borrowers against Friedman & MacFadyen, a Richmond debt collection law […]
Recently a friend shared with me her interest in purchasing a home at a foreclosure auction. Many buyers look to foreclosures in the hope of finding a bargain. Foreclosure sales occur year-round. On the other hand, “conventional” sales through realtors follow a seasonal pattern. When the ice and snow melt and winter winds retreat northward, […]
On December 4, 2014, I wrote a blog post about a borrower who brought a lawsuit against her lender after the Richmond law firm that conducted the foreclosure went out of business. The federal judge denied the bank’s motion to dismiss the borrower’s claims based on a faulty loan default notice. In that post, […]
Foreclosure of residential real estate is traditionally based on state law and agreements between the borrower and lender in the loan documents themselves. Each state has its own rules governing whether foreclosure should occur in or out of a court proceeding. In Virginia, the vast majority of foreclosures occur in bank-appointed trustee’s sales. State and […]
In Virginia, borrowers have several options of where to bring a legal challenge to a foreclosure trustee’s sale. The shortest commute is usually the Virginia circuit court for the city or county where the property is located. Alternatively, the facts may allow suit to be brought in a federal district courthouses. Another common venue is […]