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A group of state and federal judges presiding over foreclosures are wiping away borrowers' mortgage debt, invalidating foreclosure sales and even barring some foreclosures outright.
The decisions in recent months by a handful of judges in states including Massachusetts, New York and Texas mark a new phase in the judiciary's battle to stem the rising tide of foreclosures by punishing mortgage companies for paperwork mistakes and alleged mistreatment of borrowers.
The number of judges taking such action remains small, and most foreclosures go through without a challenge.
But the growing number of rulings against lenders' claims is raising questions among some legal experts about judges' impartiality.
"The question is whether judges are changing the rules in the middle of the game...just because there is a financial crisis," says Todd Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University and a critic of policy initiatives aimed at curtailing lenders' ability to foreclose.
As early as 18 months ago, several judges in California, New York, Ohio and elsewhere would dismiss foreclosure cases if they could find reason to do so. But those judges often allowed the mortgage companies to refile their foreclosure claims after attesting to their ownership of the mortgage in the county in which the homeowner lives.
Now, after the country has been mired in a housing crisis for more than two years, more judges are calling these companies on their paperwork glitches, and in some cases going much further in their efforts to help homeowners
