REFinBlog

Editor: David Reiss
Brooklyn Law School

November 12, 2013

Texas Court of Appeals Finds That Plaintiff’s Claim – That the Note and Deed of Trust Became “Split” – Has No Basis in Law

By Ebube Okoli

The Court of Appeals of Texas, Ninth District in deciding Townsend v. Barrett Daffin Frappier Turner & Engel, LLP, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 13515, 2013 WL 5874607 (Tex. App. Beaumont Oct. 31, 2013) affirmed the lower court’s decision holding that Tex. Prop. Code Ann. § 51.0025 permitted the company to administer the foreclosure proceedings.

Plaintiff alleged conspiracy to commit fraud due to the fact that the promissory note was “split” from the deed of trust when the deed of trust was assigned through MERS. Further, the plaintiff alleged that the local clerk’s office did not have a record of an assignment into Bank of America, as successor “by merger” to BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP.

However, the court found that the plaintiff’s allegation that the note and deed of trust “split” had no basis in law. The court reasoned that the alleged agreement between the persons conducting the foreclosure accomplished neither an unlawful purpose nor a lawful purpose by unlawful means. Thus, the assignment would be binding on both plaintiff, who had notice of it, and the parties to the assignment.

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