The Ryan Firm is honored to announce a significant result for its client in the secured lending space. Mr. Mase, along with Steven Rader, recently represented a client being sued by former disgruntled borrowers related to an outstanding loan made to them in 2006. This result is the culmination of strategic planning and an offensive minded approach to resolution. Essentially, our client was being sued for alleged wrongdoing in connection to a loan that she extended to several borrowers. At the time the loan was made, the client allegedly represented the borrowers in a real estate transaction concerning the purchase of another piece of real estate and the loan was used as the down payment for the purchase. Borrowers defaulted and then later sued the client (waiting until 2022) for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, quiet title, and related causes of action relating to the enforceability of the loan.
The attorneys involved in the defense of the action immediately went on the attack. The well-known adage held true, “a good offense is the best defense.” The Ryan Firm referred the extremely delinquent loan to nonjudicial foreclosure, defeated several requests to enjoin the foreclosure, and ultimately arrived at a settlement whereby the client received a substantial amount, even in the face of the borrowers’ claim that the loan was void, illegal, and unenforceable. The client went from a place of receiving nothing and having to defend the lawsuit, to a place of having defeated the allegations and receiving a substantial monetary payment in satisfaction of the delinquent loan. The defense presented a clinic in core nonjudicial foreclosure authority, as well as the interplay between the Bankruptcy Code, California secured lending laws, and the California Marketable Record Title Act.