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Izell Reesev.Provident Funding Associates, Llp

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Docket No.A12A0619
DecidedJuly 12, 2012
JudgesCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Tags
CivilCivil ProcedureProperty LawProperty TitleConsumer ProtectionStatutory InterpretationFirst ImpressionSummary JudgmentReversalRemandDissent
Case Summary

Izell and Raven Reese borrowed $650,000 to buy a Roswell property and secured the loan with a deed granting a power of sale. After they defaulted, Provident Funding, the loan servicer but not the holder of the note, sent a foreclosure notice identifying itself as the lender and failing to identify the actual secured creditor, Residential Funding Company. Provident later bought the property at a nonjudicial sale. The trial court granted Provident summary judgment on the Reeses’ wrongful-foreclosure claim. The Georgia Court of Appeals, sitting as a whole court, reversed and directed summary judgment for the Reeses. It held, in a case of first impression, that OCGA § 44-14-162.2 requires a foreclosure notice to identify the secured creditor and to reflect that the notice comes from that creditor or an authorized agent. A servicer may send the notice as an agent, but it may not misidentify itself as the secured creditor or omit the creditor’s identity. The court relied on the statutory text read as a whole and the transparency purpose of 2008 amendments, concluding that the defect invalidated the foreclosure. Judge Blackwell dissented with Judges Andrews and Boggs, maintaining that the statute clearly required disclosure only of the party with full authority to negotiate and that the majority had added a requirement the General Assembly rejected.

Opinion

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