Class-Action Lawsuit Scrutinizes Foreclosure Procedures

A Michigan lawyer has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit which alleges that tens of thousands of foreclosures in Wayne County are illegitimate because sheriffs did not follow state law when conducting foreclosure auctions.

Attorney Paul Nicoletti filed the lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of 46 plaintiffs and potentially hundreds of thousands of others to whom the suit may apply, The Detroit News reports.

Based on a technicality, the complaint claims that former county Sheriff Warren Evans failed to sign the sheriff's deeds issued to buyers of properties sold by courts, according to state law. Instead, the undersheriff signed.

"It's a hyper-technical argument, but it's due process," Nicoletti told the news source.

The attorney claimed an August ruling by bankruptcy judge Paul J. Tucker dismissed a foreclosure based on a similar technicality. In the case, the judge ruled that a deputy who was involved in the sale of a foreclosed property was only appointed to handle sales in 2008, not 2007 when the sale occurred.

According to Default Research, 2.94 percent of households were foreclosed in the last 12 months in Wayne County, Michican.