Since our Supreme Court’s decision in Bank of New York v. Romero in 2014, New Mexico’s appellate courts have applied increased scrutiny to foreclosure lawsuits.
The latest example of this trend is last week’s decision by the Court of Appelas in BAC Home Loans Servicing LP v. Smith, holding (in an opinion by Judge Zamora) that a lender failed to establish it had standing at the time its foreclosure lawsuit was filed, because it failed to show it actually owned the note at that time.
The obvious takeaway here is that lenders filing foreclosure actions must be careful to ensure that all paperwork needed to establish standing is in order before such a lawsuit is filed.
