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.
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.
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.”
I’m going to sue myself for a billion dollars. I sure hope I win, cuz then I’ll be as rich as Romney.
Jebediah
I’d sue myself, too, but I am afraid I would lose and then be on the hook for both my legal costs AND mine.
beltane
First you have to incorporate yourself in order to avoid paying taxes on your billion dollars. That’s what Mitt Romney would do (or maybe he already has, can’t know for sure until we see his tax returns).
Tonal Crow
Quite aside from the stupidity, don’t these lawyers screen for conflicts of interest? I mean, it isn’t difficult to examine whether the same party appears as both plaintiff and defendant.
Culture of Truth
Sure, but just try collecting. Better to settle for half or that bastard will tie it in appeals for years.
Mickey
Guess we should give up and let Republicans run things eh cup half empty Cole?
danimal
No, you’ll be as broke as ever. Your lawyer(s), on the other hand, will always send you a Christmas card.
Brian S
For a bank too big to fail, they’ve sure got plenty of it on hand.
scav
o yeah, we really really really need more business men that designed such paragons of greatitutude to run the nation. hee hee hee, go Citibank shareholders! make them very very nervous about plebs assembling en masse near cobblestones and rusty sharp objects.
John Cole
@Mickey: Whatever, Petey.
kdaug
Is there anything about our banking system that’s not corrupted and broken?
gaz
This sort of reminds me of when Sony Entertainment sued Sony (the hardware arm). Except that was actually on purpose. I’m not sure which is worse, but at least it’s funny.
Cluttered Mind
@kdaug: Yes. The paychecks and bonuses. They seem to keep coming no matter what happens.
Betsy
Be sure to sell your settlement to Bain Capital.
Martin
@John Cole: ALWAYS CUP HALF EMPTY WRONG COLE IS HALF EMPTY! AND WRONG! AND ALWAYS!
ALWAYS HALF WRONG CUP EMPTY COLE!
Alex S.
Oh great, the just-sign-it mentality is back, or was it ever gone?
Martin
@gaz:
And Sony wonders where they might have lost the plot.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
I’m going to find a grounds to sue myself and sell shares in the potential settlement to investors before the case runs its course. I don’t see how it can fail.
Redshift
@Phoenician in a time of Romans: Step 3: Profit!
Ash Can
Following the link, it appears that there’s a good chance this silliness is simply due to what boils down to be legal paperwork requirements. But it does make BoA look dumb.
Dan
Calculated Risk had an article about this a few days ago:
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2012/04/bofa-sues-bofa-in-foreclosure-filing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CalculatedRisk+%28Calculated+Risk%29
Conclusion: YAWN
redshirt
I’ve got a restraining order on myself. Bastard never pays any attention to it, however.
mcd410x
The Steelers bumble bee jersey is a stinger! Zap!
KG
too bad an enterprising defense lawyer representing a borrower hasn’t tried to cross-complain against defendant BofA for indemnity. That’d be all kinds of fun.
KG
@Dan: actually, that seems like a gigantic problem for the bank. they are suing themselves on behalf of an investor. Can’t imagine the BofA shareholders having a problem with that…
Roger Moore
@Mickey:
Boring, repetitive troll is boring and repetitive, and boring. Also, too, repetitive.
Yevgraf
Half-assed pleading is the problem – if a loan is subject to a servicing contract that needs curing in the course of litigation, you reflect it decently both in the caption and the body so as to not look stupid.
Ernernermers
Actually, this:
Sounds more than plausible. I’m not saying BofA might not be exactly as dumb as suggested…but it’s perfectly possible that it’s as Bauwens says.
Cap'n Magic
@Dan: Agreed.
kc
That is really just not that big of a deal. In almost all of those cases it just means that Bank of America has the first mortgage and a second mortgage and is “suing itself” to clear the title to the property. The bank would not be seeking damages from itself, as the story claims, just trying to release the lien. It looks funny, but there’s nothing nefarious about it.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
A (slightly revised) picture of the future: Imagine the only bank, suing itself in the only courtroom, forever.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Roger Moore: Watch out, or it’ll call you a “groupie”.
Suffern ACE
Hmmm. It just might work to sue yourself. The first thing I’d do with the money is buy the collection agency I hired to call me three times a day to get the dough.
Camchuck
Meh. Explained by Calculated Risk here.
low-tech cyclist
It’s like the final days of The Rutles!
Jamie
@Tonal Crow:
Seems like that is the problem. The chain of custody in titles is hopelessly fucked, and the big banks are essentially attempting to automate the legal process, which results in fun things like this.
But never let it be said that the Captains of Industry aren’t smarter, faster and better than you. No, they might sue themselves by accident once in a while, but that just means they need more of your money in order to give you a job. Finance. You wouldn’t understand.
Unsympathetic
This topic is a giant nothingburger. Today is tax day, so I’m convinced it’s a nothingburger wearing a tri-cornered hat.
But, hey, when you have an opportunity to pointlessly troll Cole, take full advantage!
Origuy
I sued myself once. I was on the board of my HOA when we had discovered construction defects. In CA, you have 3 years once you discover them to file a suit. We didn’t do it right away, for various reasons, until just before the clock ran out. The case went to trial, and one of the issues was when the 3 year clock started. The jury found that it started 3 years and 2 weeks before the suit was filed. So we lost that case. We still needed money to fix the buildings.
We asked our attorney if we could file a claim with our insurance company, under the Errors and Omissions clause of the Directors’ insurance. He did that and they denied it. By this time, I was the president of the Board, so I signed his contract. He decided that the only way to get the insurance company to pay was to sue the directors at the time the original suit should have been filed. Including me.
So, since I signed the contract, was president of the plaintiff organization, and a defendant, I sued myself. I had to get a third attorney, until the insurance company agreed to indemnify me and the other defendants. Eventually, the HOA won the suit, so they got the money to repair the buildings, and I technically lost the case. However, my chief interest was getting the buildings repaired, and I wasn’t out any money, so I won, too.