Prosecutor Mason Investigates Chase Home Finance, Bricker And Eckler, Judge John O'Donnell, Sheriff For Potential Mortgage Fraud

Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell [1]
Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid [2]
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason [3]

From the Metro Desk of the Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com [4])

Chase Home Finance Company is under investigation by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason's office for potential mortgage fraud against Black homeowners of Cuyahoga County.

At issue is the attempt by attorneys for Chase Mortgage Company, which merged and became Chase Home Finance in 2005, foreclosing on homes of Black people when foreclosure rules adopted by the Federal District Court of the Northern District of Ohio in 2007 and relevant case law from the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals require that all foreclosure complaints initiated before 2005 by Chase Mortgage Company must be dismissed and refiled by Chase Home Finance, and upon refiling the mortgage company cannot ask for legal fees. This holds true for any other foreclosures where during the litigation the mortgage company changes hands.

"They did call here about a mortgage fraud investigation," said Mark Budzar, the bailiff for Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell, who has cases brought by Chase Mortgage Company before 2005 and has not dismissed them to require that that are refiled by Chase Home Finance in cooperation with federal foreclosure rules. Instead, O'Donnell is permitting Chase Finance Company attorneys to maintain the first foreclosure lawsuit before him under the name of Chase Mortgage Company and to file second foreclosure complaints against the same homeowners with Cuyahoga Judge Carolyn Friedland to protect Chase Home Finance, to permit it to secure legal fees illegally via refiling while the original foreclosure suit is pending before him, and to allegedly harass Black homeowners.

And lawyers for Chase Mortgage Company, namely Bricker and Eckler and Lerner, Sampson and Rothfuss, are falsifying notices of foreclosure sale to Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid and leaving off the name of Chase Mortgage Company. Hence, Reid can illegally proceed with an illegal foreclosure relative to the original suits brought by Chase Mortgage Company when it no longer exits and is now Chase Home Finance and the foreclosure complaint must be dismissed and refiled.

Case records of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas reveal that the main person falsifying foreclosure notices of sale and handing them to O'Donnell and the sheriff is Miranda Hamrick, an attorney for Lerner, Sampson and Rothfuss that is illegally bringing the second foreclosure lawsuits against Black homeowners for Chase Home Finance in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.

"We are investigating this issue," Timothy Lea of Mason's mortgage fraud unit said last week. Why they are bringing second foreclosure lawsuits against people when federal foreclosure rules require that all cases brought by Chase Mortgage Company before 2005 are to be dismissed and refiled by Chase Home Finance I do not know."

O'Donnell staff attorney Alexa Beeler referred questions to the foreclosure department.

Mason's office did not respond to a request for comment on the mortgage fraud investigation.

Cuyahoga County Chief Foreclosure Magistrate Stephen Bucha is accused of harassing homeowners subject to the alleged illegal activity by saying that they must hire attorneys to challenge the activity though the Ohio Judicial Code of Conduct and the Ohio Lawyer's Professional Code of Responsibility require that a judge or lawyer that is made aware of an ethics or rule violation must report it to the bar. And they must do all things possible to deal with it like in Donnell's case dismissing foreclosure complaints sua sponte that have Chase Mortgage Company as the plaintiff because the company no longer exists and thus does not hold or own mortgage note, and accordingly, it lacks standing to litigate foreclosures, even against Black homeowners.

Bricker and Eckler was hired by county officials to investigate potential malfeasance of county employees, a questionable gesture since its attorneys are simultaneously participating in potential mortgage fraud against Black homeowners.

And since County Executive Ed Fitzgerald has adopted ethics rules for county employees like Reid, questions have arisen as to why the appointed sheriff is not questioning illegal notices of foreclosure sales. Also, Reid's office said that they are aware that Chase Mortgage Company no longer exists and attorneys for Chase Home Finance are still trying to sale the homes of Black people via questionable foreclosure activity.

Reid spokesperson Jim Bitterman would not comment further. He referred all questions to O'Donnell, saying that "we have nothing to do with that man."

Fitzgerald did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com is continuing its investigation and will keep the community apprised via upcoming articles.