In December of 2007 a lawyer for U.S. Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against a borrower named Ernest Harper who defaulted on a $190,000 home loan.  After filing the lawsuit the bank’s lawyer prepared an assignment of the mortgage to evidence the transfer of ownership of the loan to U.S. Bank.  Last month Pasco County, Florida, Circuit Court Judge Lynn Teppe ruled that the assignment of mortgage was “fraudulently backdated, in a purposeful, intentional effort to mislead” and dismissed the foreclosure complaint because the lender could not prove as of the date it filed the complaint that it was the owner of the loan.   The court found that despite being dated in December of 2007, the assignment of mortgage was actually prepared some time in 2008.

See “Judge Dismisses Mortgage Foreclosure Over ‘Fraudulently Backdated’ Doc” and “Judge Bashes Bank in Foreclosure Case.”