At the end of last year, we wrote about the case of Ruth Dwyer of Thetford, Vermont, who constructed a 60-foot-by-24-foot partition, consisting of cloth strung across multiple utility poles, to block her view of her neighbor, Patrick Perry’s house, and the light from...
Year: 2015
Confused About Standing and Merger in Zoning Appeals?
Anyone looking for a refresher course on the topics of standing and merger with regard to zoning appeals is in luck. Yesterday, the Land Court issued its decision in Pitsick v. Lipsitt, 13 MISC 477862 (May 14, 2015), in which Judge Sands provided a comprehensive...
Are Judicial Liens on Property Void After Bankruptcy Discharge?
In Christakis v. Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union (SJC 11758) (May 6, 2015), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court addressed the issue of whether judicial liens on real property remain valid after the owner of the property receives a discharge under Chapter 7 of the...
Does Your Mortgage Lack a Maturity Date? Trying to Foreclose? Not So Fast, says SJC
Suppose you hold a mortgage on a property. There is no term or maturity date in the mortgage; however, the mortgage references the date in the corresponding note on which the underlying debt is due. How long do you, the mortgagee, have to foreclose on the property...
Try Title Action Not Available to Challenge Foreclosure
Today the SJC issued its decision in an important case to those following the fallout of the mortgage foreclosure crisis. The Court in Abate v. Fremont Investment & Loan, et al., SJC-11638, effectively eliminated one of the methods homeowners have used to...
The Land and Superior Courts’ Exclusive Original Jurisdiction over Permit Session Cases
Today the Appeals Court in Skawski et al. v. Greenfield Investors Property Development, LLC, Docket No. 13-P-1947, confirmed that the Land Court and the Superior Court have exclusive original jurisdiction over Zoning Act (G.L. c. 40A, § 17) appeals that arise from...
SCOTUS: Truth in Lending Act Only Requires Written Notice of Intent to Rescind Within 3-Year Period
In a unanimous, short, decision by Justice Scalia, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Jesinoski et ux. v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., et al. that a borrower exercising his right to rescind a mortgage under the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1635(a),...
US District Court of MA Permits Consumer Protection Complaint against Bank of America to Proceed
The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts has permitted a mortgage-related complaint against certain financial entity defendants to proceed on grounds of negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, and violation of G.L. c. 93A (the MA consumer...