Judges Take Notice of Subprime Mortgage Crisis

The mortgages were part of a package of thousands of such loans purchased as a part of a Structured Investment Vehicle ('SIV') by Deutsche Bank. Apparently, somewhere between the closing, the packaging of the mortgages, their securitization by the packager, and the sale of the package to Deutsche Bank, the original mortgage documents had been lost. The only thing that Deutsche Bank's counsel could produce was a document showing an 'intent to convey the mortgages.' In dismissing Deutsche Bank's foreclosure action, an exasperated Judge Boyko wrote that the banks 'seem to adopt the attitude that since they have been doing this for so long unchallenged, this practice equates with legal compliance.' (See Amir Efrati, The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 30, 2007, p. B6, and Gretchen Morgenson, 'Foreclosures Hit a Snag for Lenders,' The New York Times, Nov. 15, 2007)

Once word of Judge Boyko's decision reached the popular press, the blogosphere immediately lit up. One participant commented that lenders should be held to task and required to produce ownership of mortgages because such ownership is 'the heart of Western property rights since the Magna Carta.' (digg.com) Other comments were more inflammatory.