Maine woman wins federal court battle over faulty $189,471 foreclosure notice

A Maine woman won a major federal court victory after a lender tried to foreclose on her home using a notice that did not meet the state’s strict legal requirements. The case began in 2005, when her husband refinanced the family property without her signing the new mortgage note, and it ended more than two decades later with the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirming that the faulty foreclosure notice required judgment in her favour. The ruling, U.S. Bank Trust, N.A. v. Bowden, is important because it confirms that Maine’s foreclosure notice rules protect not only the spouse who signs a loan, but also a spouse whose property interest is subject to the mortgage. Even though the woman was not personally liable for the debt, the court held that she was entitled to a legally compliant notice before the lender could foreclose on her home.How the dispute beganAccording to the First Circuit’s account, the married couple acquired a residential property in Maine and built their home on a subdivided lot. In 2005, the husband alone obtained a mortgage on the property to pay off an earlier joint mortgage. His wife did not sign the new note, although her ownership interest in the home remaine...