New Case Law on Note Ownership

As many of you know, the Second District Court of Appeal, which covers portions of Central Florida, issued an important decision (now known as BAC Funding Consortium) regarding what a bank has to do in order to prove its ownership of the note, specifically with regard to “blank endorsement” cases.

Yesterday, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, which covers South Florida, adopted the Second DCA’s ruling.  In pertinent part, the court stated:

“In the instant case, th e endorsement in blank is unsigned and unauthenticated, creating a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Aurora is the lawful owner and holder of the note and/or mortgage. As in BAC Funding Consortium, there are no supporting affidavits or deposition testimony in the record to establish that Aurora validly owns and holds the note and mortgage, no evidence of an assignment to Aurora, no proof of purchase of the debt nor any other evidence of an effective transfer.”

In short order, the Fourth DCA is telling the banks to actually prove ownership after transfer or lose the case.  Great news for homeowners.