Court upholds ruling in robo-signing foreclosure

By a 5-1 decision released this morning, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower court ruling that allowed loan servicer GMAC Mortgage, despite admittedly flawed practices involved in affadavit signing, to foreclose upon a home in Denmark purchased in 2003 by Nicolle M. Bradbury.

Through the work of her attorney, Thomas A. Cox, a retired lawyer who volunteers for Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Bradbury had successfully fended off foreclosure by exposing so-called “robo-signing” practices of lender employees with little or no knowledge of the individual mortgages who nonetheless signed hundreds of affadavits each day.

The Bridgton District Court partially sided with Bradbury, in ordering the Federal Naitonal Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) to pay nearly $24,000 in legal fees.

Cox also wanted the lender found in contempt and the foreclosure dismissed, but the state supreme court disagreed.