Supreme Court judge goes after HSBC over shoddy foreclosure filing

A Brooklyn Supreme Court judge has ordered the head of HSBC North America, Irene Dorner, to appear in court July 15 and explain why America’s ninth-largest bank should not be penalized for submitting false documents in a foreclosure case, the New York Daily News reported.

In a decision issued Friday, Justice Arthur Schack dismissed the bank’s case against Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Ellen Tahrer as a “frivolous motion” and a “waste of judicial resources,” after it failed to prove that it even owned the $475,000 mortgage on the defendant’s home. Documents submitted were all signed by “robo-signers,” Schack said, and were “replete with false statements.”

In 2010, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman introduced new regulations to clamp down on shoddy foreclosure filings and Schack has become somewhat of a folk hero amongst homeowners for staying faithful to those rules, the Daily News said.

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“We cannot allow the courts… to stand by idly and be party to what we now know is a deeply flawed process, especially when that process involves basic human needs — such as a family home,” Lippman said.

HSBC spokesperson Neil Brazil said the bank was “reviewing the court papers.” It’s role, he said, “was limited to that of a trustee for an investment vehicle in mortgages. [The bank] did not service this loan and neither prepared or filed any of the legal documents presented to the court.” [NYDN]