The New Rules of Foreclosure Litigation By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Since the first loans and mortgages changed hands with cloaks and stone in Israel[1] and Greece[2] thousands of years ago[3], never previously had mortgages caused a worldwide economic collapse of financial markets. Unfortunately, as the federal and state government as well as Full Article…
Moving Beyond the Mistakes of MERS to Secure a Profitable National Title System, ABA Probate & Property
by Adam Leitman Bailey, Dov Treiman Adam Leitman Bailey is the principal of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., in New York, New York. Dov Treiman is a partner in the New York, New York, office of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus is called on to sail his crew through the Straits of Messina, Full Article…
Growing Fraud: Self-Help Measures Can Head Off Problems, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Carly Greenberg Today’s bank robbers rarely use a mask and gun. The crimes are usually completed at a real estate transaction’s closing table. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, lenders incurred more than $1 billion in mortgage losses in 2005 as a result of fraud.1 During this same time Full Article…
The Race to Erase Recording Mistakes, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Jackie Halpern Weinstein To protect the integrity of this nation’s property transfer system, the robo-signing controversy must result in a better system of transferring property and loans. Beneath this public debacle exists another old timer in the world of recording: property transfer mistakes. Improper, mistaken, or wrongly executed and indexed Full Article…
Cooperative Foreclosure: The Accidental Doctrine
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Although the lack of judicial supervision of the cooperative foreclosure process for default upon cooperative apartment mortgages vastly simplifies the lives of lenders’ counsel, under the latest changes in the foreclosure statutes, it creates a nightmare for the title industry insuring titles down the line from such a Full Article…
Adverse Possession in a Post- ‘Walling’ World
By: Adam Leitman Bailey & John M. Desiderio October 12th, 2011 In a prior article, which reviewed adverse possession cases decided by New York courts in the two years following the 2008 amendments to Article 5 of the Real Property and Proceedings Law (RPAPL), the authors noted that “during this period of transition, the courts Full Article…
Preventing Fraud at Closing
November 1st, 2009 There are some simple yet effective steps that can be taken to avert fraud at a real estate closing. At the start of the 21st century, the most effective means to rob a bank no longer includes the use of a gun. The real estate closing table has replaced the gun and Full Article…
Adverse Possession: Veto Confirmed Existing Law on ‘Claim of Right’
By: Adam Leitman Bailey & John M. Desiderio September 12th, 2007 This past session, the New York State Legislature passed a bill1 that would have effectively eliminated the doctrine of adverse possession as we know it today. However, on Aug. 28, Governor Spitzer vetoed the bill noting the “radical impact” it would have had on Full Article…