We have a victory!!

Judge Rules in Favor of Eminent Domain Over Wells Fargo

Tue, 2013-09-17 17:59 — Robert Ottone

"Isn't this, as we say in the trade, a no-brainer?" said U.S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Breyer in court. In an effort to seize underwater mortgages through the use of eminent domain, the city of Richmond, Calif. has scored an early victory over Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo, who has staunchly opposed the use of eminent domain for economic recovery, saw their suit thrown out by a Federal judge because the case wasn’t far enough along. The city of Richmond has yet to determine how it will go about acting on the potential eminent domain seizure.
"Ripeness of these claims does not rest on contingent future events certain to occur but rather on future events that may never occur," said Breyer. "Plaintiffs are not, for example, challenging a proposal of the City Council that may or may not raise constitutional concerns depending on the contours of the final version—put simply, there may never be a 'final version.'"
The lawsuit filed by Wells Fargo on behalf of their investors against the city of Richmond, as well as Mortgage Resolution Partners, the group aiding the city with enacting change and stamping out the Bay Area housing crisis. Perhaps fearing a “domino effect” of sorts, Wells Fargo had been hoping to nip the eminent domain seizure in the bud, however; there are rumblings of the city of San Francisco looking to the Richmond eminent domain method in order to cure some of its own housing woes.
“Our strategies have been, let's be honest, ‘Let’s see what the federal government or the banking industry will do to help these folks,’” said San Francisco District Supervisor David Campos on the steps of City Hall in San Francisco last week. “We’ve waited long enough.”
Last week, the eminent domain plan began going into effect, with Richmond councilmembers voting in favor 4-3 of the motion. “Our residents have been badly harmed by this housing crisis,” Mayor Gayle McLaughlin reportedly said at the time. “The banks have been unwilling or unable to fix this situation, so the city is stepping in to provide a fix.”
The “fix” in question would essentially bring the principal amount closer to the current property’s value, allowing homeowners to more easily make payments on their mortgages. Mortgage Resolution Partners receives around $4,500 per loan as an “advisory fee.” The banks are angry because the city is essentially seizing their assets at a lower price than what they believe is fair, regardless of the perceived market value.

Banks Terrified of Eminent Domain

The City of Richmond California has taken a step that will force the Banks to prove their loss --- something that most of them can't do. Richmond has taken final action to seize underwater mortgages whether or not they are declared to be in default. This action will result, one way or the other, in the homeowners getting mortgages that have balances equal to the fair  market value proven by the banks, whether or not they are foreclosing on the property. I first proposed this solution 6 years ago, and until now, many cities had considered it but only Richmond, CA has actually done it.

When litigation commences, the Banks will challenge the right of eminent domain, on which they will most likely lose, and then the Banks will be required to prove their loss, something they cannot do because there is no loss. The resulting disclosure of no losses to those who are foreclosing and no loss to those who are collecting will be devastating to the full court press of foreclosures and to the truthfulness of reports of ownership to government agencies initiated by Wall Street entities.

This changes everything since it doesn't carry the taint of "deadbeat" trying to get out of "legitimate debt". Instead it offers the market value to the holders of the mortgage. The Banks don't own the mortgages, used the money of investors (who were the real owners of the loans, if not the note and mortgage), received multiple payments from insurance companies and other third parties and have sold, for 100 cents on the dollar, the loans to the Federal Reserve on the premise that the mortgage Bonds represents ownership of the loans --- a premise that can only be true if the loans were properly transferred into the REMIC trusts.

The eminent domain action starts with the premise of a valid note and mortgage. Litigation will expose the defects in both the ownership and the claimed balance due. The fair market value will mostly be considered to be the fair market value of the property. The trading markets might also be used as a reference.

Eminent Domain in litigation will expose the fatal defects in the loans, notes, mortgages and foreclosures. It will show that even the "performing" loans have disputable ownership issues and disputable loan balances after the  Banks received, on behalf of the investors, insurance payment, guarantee payments and proceeds of sale from the Federal Reserve.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/california-city-approves-eminent-domain-negative-equity-mortgages-090351924.html