On Monday the New Jersey Supreme Court published an opinion in the case which has been holding up foreclosures in the state, US Bank v. Guillaume. The heart of the case surrounded the issue of whether or not the lack of both the name and address of the actual lender on the Notice of Intent (NOI) was cause for dismissal of the foreclosure case. Another claim within the case focused on an undisclosed $120 filing fee in the original loan documents as a violation in the Truth in Lending Act (TILA).
Ultimately the Supreme Court decided that lenders, according to New Jersey law, should have the name, address and phone number of the actual lender, not just the mortgage servicer on the foreclosure filings. However this was not deemed to be significant enough reason to dismiss the case, as the Guillaumes did receive the paperwork and were fully informed that they were required to file an answer to the foreclosure complaint, which they failed to do.
The TILA portion was also rejected, with the judge noting the Guillaumes’ inability to pay the amount due on their mortgage.
So what does this mean for process servers in New Jersey? Foreclosures that have already been filed will not need to be re-served. The Notice of Intent will have to be amended to include the lender as well as the servicers for the loans but will not require the documents to be served again. But this still means the foreclosure wave is officially coming!
