Appellate court sides with Miami homeowners

The Third District Court of Appeal reversed a foreclosure against Miami-Dade County homeowners, ruling that testimony from a witness for the lender should not have been admitted.

Borrowers Terrence and Tiwanna Kelsey avoided losing their home thanks to the unusual ruling, Daily Business Review reported. Their attorney says the reversal is the first he has seen involving a robo-witness in a single-family residential foreclosure. Lower court judges often allow testimony from lender and servicer witnesses, even in the wake of the national robo-signing scandal.

The Third District panel determined Lauren Gergeceff, a mediation specialist who testified on behalf of Nationstar Mortgage in the Miami-Dade Circuit case, had no direct knowledge of the mortgage and only saw loan documents when the trial began. [Daily Business Review] — Eric Kalis