Palm Beach Real Estate Lawsuit: April 8, 2015 Florida 4th DCA

Are you involved in a real estate lawsuit action in Palm Beach?    You may want to read what the Palm Beach Appeal Court said in a recent April 8, 2015, decision.

Who has the power to foreclose on my property?

In order for a lender in a Palm Beach, foreclosure action to foreclose on yourproperty, the lender must show that it owns or holds the note secured by a lien on theproperty, or is otherwise entitled to enforce the note. Common foreclosure actions involve mortgages on real estate property. In these cases, a failure to make payment on a promissory note is commonly referred to as a violation of a mortgage.

In a recent Palms Beach appeal court case involving a foreclosure litigation matter, the prevailing party was required to prove that it had the power to enforce the note at the time the suit was filed (a typical foreclosure litigation in Florida). On appeal, the prevailing party failed to prove that it had the power to enforce the note at the time the suit was filed.

So, why didn’t the party in this foreclosure action have the power to enforce the note?

• The note was undated and unendorsed.
• The note was filed over a month after the party filed the foreclosure action in the Palm Beach County court.
• An assignment of a mortgage is not the same as an assignment of the note. Here, the prevailing party had only been assigned the mortgage, which wasn’t enough to enforce the note.

To read a free online copy of this legal opinion, click on this link:http://www.4dca.org/opinions/April%202015/04-08-15/4D13-3616.rhgop.pdf.