Wells Fargo Claims Mortgage Assignment in Bankruptcy Case RICO Class Action

The initial filings for this pro se class action add up to over 700 pages. The main defendant is Wells Fargo Bank, NA; the case seems to have begun with a mortgage and the bankruptcy of the original lender; and then a foreclosure without a proper, legal assignment. The most prominent allegations involve the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

Plaintiff Nancy Alanis bought a home in San Antonio, Texas in June 2006. The original lender and beneficiary in the deed of trust was New Century Mortgage Corporation.

Less than a year later, in April 2007, New Century filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. The case ended on August 25, 2016 in bankruptcy court.

The complaint alleges that Wells Fargo did not fulfill legal requirements when Alanis was sent a letter in August 2010 “falsely advising Alanis that Ocwen was the new loan servicer and to remit her payments” to Ocwen. Ocwen sent her a Notice of Default dated December 8, 2010 claiming she was delinquent and must pay over $25,000 to cure the delinquency.

Wells Fargo’s loan servicer sent Alanis a January 13, 2011 Notice of Acceleration of Loan Maturity. The letter claimed that Wells Fargo was the mortgagee, but Alanis claims that Wells Fargo had not lifted the stay or received any assignment from the New Century Liquidating Trust in the bankruptcy case.

Alanis’s attorney sent a dispute letter but never received a validation of the debt.

Two months later, the complaint alleges, “the Defendants fabricated a February 2, 2011 Transfer of Lien which was purportedly executed between Wells Fargo and the nonexistent New Century Mortgage Corporation.”

Alanis’s attorney then filed suit to stop the foreclosure. In August 2011, Wells Fargo filed a counterclaim. It obtained a foreclosure order on March 3, 2016, although the complaint maintains that it still did not have a valid assignment for the property.

The complaint alleges improper “pervasive ex parte communication” between Wells Fargo and the state court judges. The complaint alleges, “The Defendants committed predicate racketeering acts willfully or with actual knowledge of the illegal activities and the Defendants facilitated the fraud and gained money, property and state court ex parte communication tribunal advantage at the expense of the plaintiff.”

It claims that acts in connection with the bankruptcy and foreclosure come under the RICO laws and also alleges fraud and violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Texas Debt Collection Act (TDCA).

The class for this action is all New Century Mortgage Corporation borrowers who executed a contractual residential mortgage loan with New Century on or before their bankruptcy petition of April 2, 2007, where New Century was identified in the deed of trust as the beneficiary and where, after the confirmation plan effective date of August 1, 2008, New Century (and not its successor, the New Century Liquidating Trust) purportedly executed an assignment and/or recorded one with Wells Fargo acting as trustee.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: RICO
Tags: Foreclosure, Improper Actions During Bankruptcy, Mortgage-Related Unfair Practices, RICO laws