Press Release – Homeowners and Public Outraged: Blocked Attending Historic Hearing Retrying Predatory Mortgage Case

Posted on November 11, 2022 by MAAPL

Judge's gavel and two books on a wood surfaceOn Thursday, November 10, 2022 the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) released a statement to the media regarding Tommy and Mary Morris being denied the right to attend their own hearing before the Housing Court on November 9, 2022.

The Morrises, as well as members of the general public, were barred from being heard by the judge and witnessing the proceedings despite making numerous attempts over the course of 2 hours to join the hearing remotely as instructed.

This case, HSBC Bank as Trustee v. Morris, may be the first holding in the country, during this foreclosure crisis, to admonish the lower courts in their state to address predatory lending.

The full text of the MAAPL press release is below.

Download the complete Press Release ( PDF )

Mass Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL)
www.maapl.info | maaplinfo@gmail.com

For Immediate Release: November 10, 2022
Contact: Grace Ross  617-291-5591

HOMEOWNERS AND PUBLIC OUTRAGED: BLOCKED ATTENDING HISTORIC HEARING RETRYING PREDATORY MORTGAGE CASE

November 10, 2022, Brockton, MA – “The injustice continues! It’s an outrage! I wasn’t able to go on Zoom to attend my own hearing.The corruption in this country and these illegal actions against people losing their homes in this country are destroying lives and families. Home ownership used to be the American Dream,” explained Tommy L. Morris at being denied the right to attend his own Housing Court hearing.

Today, Mr. Morris and his wife Mary and others filed sworn affidavits of the violation of their rights to attend public court hearings. (See attached affidavit specifying 19+ attempts.)

The Morrises – Defendants in their own first hearing after an historic reversal by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court of a judgment erroneously entered given evidence of predatory and apparently discriminatory lending practices – and members of the general public, put the courts and the world on notice that they were barred from being heard by the judge and barred from witnessing these potentially historic proceedings, yesterday, November 9.

On July 22, 2022, as a historic first, the top court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, admonished the lower courts that they could no longer ignore an attempt to enforce mortgages that were the product of prohibited predatory and discriminatory lending practices. The HSBC Bank as Trustee v. Morris decision may be the first holding in the country, during this foreclosure crisis, to admonish the lower courts in their state, to address predatory lending.

In the early 2000s, legislation across the country was passed, early in the historic housing bubble, to arrest predatory lending practices; Massachusetts 2004 law was arguably the strongest. Its focus was to end the egregious practice of giving a loan to make fast money for the brokers and lenders, where the underwriting evidence demonstrated that the mortgage was based on a value far beyond the real property value, stripping as much wealth from the unwitting borrowers upfront as possible with the most likely long-term outcome being foreclosure.

With the SJC order, the Morrises were promised that the lower court, the MetroSouth Housing Court, judgment was to be reversed, that the predatory nature of the loan had to be assessed, and the case re-adjudicated. Today, Nov. 10, the public docket still does not reflect compliance with the SJC order to reverse the judgment for eviction.

The Morrises first status hearing was scheduled virtually for noon yesterday, before the Central Housing Court Chief Judge, Diana Horan. They attempted to join their hearing remotely, as instructed. Members of the public also attempted to join remotely, but apparently only the lawyers were permitted to join.

For 2 hours, the Morrises were consistently denied access to their hearing, and when they finally reached somebody at one of the courthouses, they were informed that their hearing had long since been over.

Jay Lively, an E. Falmouth homeowner and leader in the Mass. Alliance Against Predatory Lending, was also denied access to this hearing, “When accessibility to courts both as a party or a witness disappear, there can be no justice because accountability has been banished.”

Constitutional rights are in question when the public and press are blocked from what are supposed to be public court hearings; this was a public hearing and not in the limited set of circumstances which some-times allow a hearing to be closed (protecting the identity of a sexual violence victim, for instance.)

“I had a Fremont predatory loan and was happy to hear the Supreme Court’s decision in Mr. Morris’ case in July. However, I was very disappointed that I was unable to hear the status hearing yesterday with Judge Horan. We waited to be admitted to Zoom for an hour and 40 mins. and then found out the hearing was over,” Christine Hrycenko, Brockton resident and member of the Brockton Foreclosure Fighters.

The exclusion of the public, and especially given the historic importance of this case, makes it so that no other homeowners whose cases are similarly situated, and who would have a right to the same decision, can witness the proceedings; nor can there be any public record. (END)

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Those denied entrance to the hearing are available for comment if you contact Grace Ross above.

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Press Release: Eviction Not Final Outcome of 16 Year Predatory Discriminatory Loan

Posted on October 20, 2022 by MAAPL

Judge's gavel and two books on a wood surfaceOn Thursday, October 20, 2022, the Mass Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) released a statement to the media regarding the wrongful eviction case of Alton King, a Black senior with a disability.

King has an open case in the Massachusetts Appeals Court. MAAPL has also been working with other organizations to convince the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to reverse its decision in King’s original case. More details about the SJC’s original decision, and MAAPL’s response to the decision, are available here on the MAAPL website.

For recent Western MA media coverage of this case, see this news item.

Download the complete Press Release ( PDF )

Mass Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL)
www.maapl.info and maaplinfo@gmail.com

For Immediate Release: October 20, 2022
Contact: Grace Ross  617-291-5591

EVICTION NOT FINAL OUTCOME OF 16 YEAR PREDATORY DISCRIMINATORY LOAN  

Longmeadow, MA, October 12, 2022, the eviction started at 9am but the Execution to Evict Alton King expired at 11:59pm.

Yet, on Thursday, October 13th, the Hampden County Sheriff deputies were found still  on King’s property, with moving trucks; and continuing a move-out while they no longer had an  authorizing Order to Evict. King, meanwhile, received a Bankruptcy Stay on Thursday, October  13, 2022 around 8:35 a.m.

Being evicted, even though the eviction case came about exemplifying the absolutely  most predatory type of loan, not legal under any mortgage law; King’s loan epitomizes practices  repeatedly prohibited by State and Federal law and Federal and State case-law since they began  160 years ago.

Unbeknownst to King, the underwriting of his property by the lender only offered him a bifurcated loan almost $400,000 more than the property was worth, trapping him in an  unaffordable loan that ballooned in a couple of years, to over three times the monthly payment  he was originally told.

But what he only found out after they claimed to have foreclosed on the prohibited  loan, was that it was a double-book entry loan, where he was being sent bills for a lower  interest rate than the bank was actually using, to build up how much he would owe over time;  so that after 30 years of paying, he would actually owe more (that he had not been assessed  monthly in his billing) principal than he had when he first got the loan.

Alton King, as an African American senior with a disability, was illegally induced into an  unsustainable and prohibited loan.

King’s monthly payment mushroomed from $3200/month to $13,400/month. The  mortgage was based on a 150% over inflated appraisal; when the $410,000 addition was placed  on the home the appraised value dropped $250,000. The bank refused to give a conventional  loan as promised.

Former Attorney General Harshbarger fixed this predatory lending problem 30 years  ago with regulations and a criminal law; when that failed the Predatory Home Loan Practices Act (PHLPA) was enacted in 2004, but the courts have refused to enforce all of these.

Fast-forward through: unsuccessful attempts to get a loan modification, three years of  court cases post a purported non-judicial foreclosure (because no court oversees the  foreclosure by sale process in Massachusetts). Finally, the judges he was in front of waited-out  King’s various legal rights to a Stay, by denying him the documents necessary to exercise his  rights to appeal a renewed order to evict.

As King himself reports:

“The judiciary, from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court down to through all  the courts have thus far largely ignored enforcement of those protections. Falsified  documents are routinely accepted by the courts from bank attorneys, who seemed to  have No Fear of repercussions, to validate the wrongful foreclosures.

Justice requires accountability for those who violate their positions of trust. The recent MA SJC decision in the HSBC Bank, as Trustee v. Morris case (July 2022) has  made it clear that predatory loans are not going to be tolerated. Not only is there  extensive evidence now of the bifurcated history of mortgage lending in this country and  the clear history of discrimination, but I documented the equal rights violations in the  Housing Court proceeding, itself, at minimum, as to age and disability.

As a senior Black man with a disability, I know from personal experience of 16 years of  mortgaging and then foreclosure and not that Courts what our laws hold, that the  experience of unequal treatment that is not timely rectified is also recognized as an  irredeemable loss. Such treatment left unremedied not only leaves an indelible mark but  lack of protection signals that the victim, such as me, is not even held as worthy of the  protections guaranteed in our state and federal constitutions: “even a successful suit will  not vindicate entirely King’s right to be free from discriminatory treatment.

Our Constitutions’ guarantee of equal protection cannot conscience denial of a stay  of eviction and provision of all his full rights.

Millions of Americans, a disproportionate number of them being Black, minorities,  elderly, Indigent, and disabled, are being targeted. The predatory institutions act with  impunity, especially knowing that there is tremendous profit and almost no risk in taking  advantage of Black people, minorities, elderly, indigent, and disabled.”

As of today, King has exercised his rights to a Stay under bankruptcy. The Hampden  County Sheriff’s office sits in a legally untenable position of withholding King’s own personal  possessions from him by locking him out of the house and yet not allowing him access to  possessions in the house, including legal documents that he has a right to.

King has an open case in the Massachusetts Appeals Court; he has a right to reverse the  eviction judgment under the Morris decision that has been not even properly reviewed, and  therefore he has a right to have heard. And he is exercising all of his options to enforce his  rights at this time.

As King says: “I call on the world, right now, to stand on the right side of justice and  recognize that it is only a matter of time now, that the wealthiest institutions are going to have  to face justice regarding decades of knowing discriminatory lending (race, age, disability, and  for other homeowners, such for instance as Rorie Susan Woods, herself, victim of sexist  lending), all of which has been outlawed for some 50 years.”

(END)

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Press Release: NEAC of NAACP Files Amicus Brief in Alton King Case

Posted on August 25, 2022 by MAAPL

Judge's gavel and two books on a wood surfaceOn Thursday, August 25, 2022, the New England Area Conference (NEAC) of the NAACP released a statement to the media regarding its filing of an amicus brief in the Supreme Judicial Court case Bank of New York Mellon as Trustee on Behalf of the Registered Holders of Alternative Loan Trust 2006-J7, Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2006-J7 v. Alton King.

King’s case is currently under reconsideration by the SJC. MAAPL has been working with the NEAC and other organizations to convince the SJC to reverse its decision in the original case. More details about the SJC’s original decision, and MAAPL’s response to the decision, are available here on the MAAPL website.

You can read the full NEAC press release below.

Download the NEAC Press Release ( PDF )
Download the NEAC Amicus Brief ( PDF )

NAACP, NEW ENGLAND AREA CONFERENCE

P. O. Box 320128
West Roxbury, MA 02132
(617) 323-8885

Contacts: Juan Cofield, NEAC #
Grace Ross, MAAPL 617-291-5591

New England Area Conference of the NAACP files historic brief in support of Black senior homeowner (and those similarly situated) targeted in this unprecedented period of illegal foreclosures.

The New England Area Conference (NEAC) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed an amicus brief with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

“This filing represents a historic step towards ending predatory and discriminatory home lending practices and illegal foreclosures in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We are proud to provide Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court, with an opportunity to address and correct the impact of 160 years of discriminatory lending practices,” said Maurice Powe, lead counsel for NEAC and legal redress committee chair for the Springfield Branch of the NAACP.

The case, Bank of New York Mellon as Trustee on Behalf of the Registered Holders of Alternative Loan Trust 2006-J7, Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2006-J7 v. Alton King, case number SJC-12859, is presently under reconsideration.

NEAC has worked for over a decade with the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) to end the illegal and predatory mortgage lending targeted to Blacks and other people of color. “This truly authoritative brief is a crash course in the criminal ploys by which the American mortgaging industry still reduces Black homebuyers to stifling economic deprivation,” explained Sarah McKee, formerly General Counsel of Interpol for the U.S., who has volunteered with MAAPL since 2014.

“I am so proud that NEAC has entered this brief in my SJC appeal,” said Alton King of Long Meadow explained, “These loans that were doomed to fail, designed to be foreclosed from inception, have ruinously extracted generational wealth from targeted communities, people of color and economically disenfranchised groups.”

“The Alton King case is unfortunately just one of thousands of Massachusetts homeowners targeted by discriminatory and illegal lending practices; it has damaged disproportionately Blacks and other borrowers of color. In fact, these practices have damaged the fabric of and caused overwhelming damage to the American economy” said Juan Cofield, president of NEAC. He stated further that, “for a century, the NAACP has worked through the courts to enforce the US Constitution, federal and state laws to ensure that all citizens are guaranteed equal opportunity for liberty and justice.”

(END)

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MA Homeowners Forge a Milestone Victory at Supreme Judicial Court!

Posted on July 29, 2022 by MAAPL

On Friday, July 29, 2022, MAAPL released a statement to the media marking and celebrating a breakthrough legal decision that was handed down on July 22, 2022 by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. On that date, the Court affirmed in HSBC Bank USA v. Morris, et al. that a predatory loan and its foreclosure are prohibited, and reversed the Housing Court eviction judgment in that case. A Brockton senior black couple has won the first victory recognizing that, even after a supposed foreclosure, courts must address and reverse the foreclosure where a mortgage is predatory and illegal from origination.

MAAPL’s press release is reprinted below, or you can download the press release ( PDF )

Related post: Action Alert: Join MAAPL for SJC Oral Arguments on Monday, 4/4/22

Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending
www.maapl.info

July 29, 2022                                                   Contact: Grace Ross, MAAPL Coordinator
For Immediate Release                                                                                   Cell 617.291.5591

Massachusetts Homeowners Forge a Milestone Victory at Supreme Judicial Court

July 29, 2022 – Homeowners in the second decade of fighting predatory, prohibited loans, celebrate first breakthrough recognition by Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court when on Friday, July 22, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed that a predatory loan and its foreclosure are prohibited and reversed the Housing Court eviction judgment in that case. A Brockton senior black couple argued their way to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and got the first victory recognizing that even after a supposed foreclosure courts must address and reverse where a mortgage is predatory and illegal from origination.

“We proved it; they broke every law there was and still no one got arrested. I’m so excited that the SJC heard our case,” one of the homeowner, Mr. Tommy L. Morris, who took unique and visionary leadership arguing his own case as a non-lawyer at key points in the many step process (including sharing time in oral argument at the Supreme Judicial Court itself) shares this important message, especially for other Massachusetts homeowners, “Now everyone knows that what they did was illegal and was always illegal. And people have to never give up.  People need to work together to make sure that they get the justice that they should have gotten years ago.”

“Those homeowners facing injustice from predatory loans are reminded that they have 20 years under our laws to fight that injustice. Like in the long road to end legalized segregation took a series of milestone decisions from the US Supreme Judicial Court, this Massachusetts SJC decision represents such a milestone to reversing this 16 year long unprecedented period of home foreclosures,” said Grace Ross, Coordinator of 14-year old coalition, the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending, “justice is just beginning; the homeowner fighters of Massachusetts will be back to our top state court!”

““The SJC delivered a vital win to Massachusetts homeowners victimized by the illegal foreclosure crisis who’ve been deprived of the right to assert mortgage origination violations. The Morris decision is a warning to unscrupulous mortgage lenders that predatory mortgage loans cannot be laundered simply by selling them off to other banks,” commented Brian Wasser, Esq, as early private bar attorney entrant into homeowner foreclosure defense legal work in 2008.

After Homeowners fighting their ways through repeated barriers of unequal access finally got a case all the way up to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court with the issue before the Court: a prohibited origination violation.  The first predatory lending foreclosures hit their earliest victims with foreclosure beginning in 2004-2005 in communities of color. After cumulative predictable foreclosures crashing the world markets and continuing to escalate in pure foreclosure numbers into the second decade of this century, foreclosures are rebounding to continue of unprecedented numbers of foreclosures originated in that same time period (2002-2008) through to today.

“In a meticulously crafted opinion, the SJC determined that the Legislature precisely intended our Predatory Home Loan Practices Act to protect Massachusetts families from grasping lenders such as victimized Mr. and Mrs. Morris and countless others. This is a win for hardworking families who were similarly impoverished, and terrorized, by the foreclosure of predatory mortgage loans that had been illegal from the moment when borrowers signed the papers,“ Sarah McKee, retired Federal Prosecutor from Amherst, Ma. and was Governor Patrick’s Appointee to the Registry Modernization Commission.

###

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Action Alert: Join MAAPL for SJC Oral Arguments on Monday, 4/4/22

Posted on April 3, 2022 by MAAPL

Judge's gavel and two books on a wood surfaceThe Morrises’ case is now up at the Massachusetts SJC to be HEARD, this MONDAY, April 4, 2022 at about 10:30am (time is not exact)

This is our first chance to show the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that it needs to stand up for the people of Massachusetts, especially the people of color and communities with a higher percentage of people of color who were targeted for the illegal, predatory, and, in fact, “prohibited” discriminatory loans that the industry across the board has rampantly engaged in.

We have all been horrified by what the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did to Alton King and said was okay to be done to everybody similarly situated. That is, anybody who is “post foreclosure” and needs fees waived to be able to fight for their rights in our courts can be denied. (Although we are fighting that in the lower courts and getting there…)

We have an opportunity to show the SJC that we are watching and that they need to do the right thing. Please put THIS Monday on your calendar and plan to watch or attend!

We have found out that observers can be in the Courtroom itself; that would be the most impressive to the SJC (they prefer masks be worn). If you can’t make it OR we find out we can’t witness in person, PLEASE plan to watch the hearing using the link below — we will figure out a way to let the court know how many people are watching!

https://boston.suffolk.edu/sjc/

They need to know how many people are watching and how many people are going to be paying attention to whether they choose the people of Massachusetts over the mega-banks, and whether they start the process of reparations and healing that is our Constitutional right.

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Action Alert: Sign the MAAPL Petition to Extend the Eviction Moratorium

Posted on July 29, 2021 by MAAPL

The CDC’s federal moratorium on evictions is scheduled to expire in just a couple of days on July 31, 2021. If this happens, thousands of families and individuals will lose their housing even while COVID-19 rates continue to rise. People of color have been disproportionately affected by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the foreclosure and eviction crisis, so BIPOC communities stand to be severely impacted by the lifting of the eviction moratorium.

We must act NOW and urge CDC Director Walensky to extend the moratorium again. The FHFA has already extended its moratorium in the face of increasing COVID rates, and the CDC must act to do the same to protect all American homeowners and tenants. Congress and the U.S. Senate must also take legislative to keep the moratorium in place to avoid worsening the impact of the latest wave of COVID cases on families and communities across the country.

Please take action and sign our Change.org petition to address this urgent situation!

Visit http://chng.it/GFKb9wstTy and sign the petition NOW!

After you sign the petition, please share this link widely! Help us get as many signatures as possible. Thank you!

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Action Alert: MAAPL Call-In NOW—Extend the National Eviction Moratorium!

Posted on June 23, 2021 by MAAPL

MAAPL Call-In NOW! Tuesday, June 22
(Keep calling until June 25th)
The CDC must extend the national Eviction Moratorium!

Your voice gets results—CALL NOW!

Call the CDC — and your Congressional Representative & US Senators! Ask them to extend the CDC’s Eviction Moratorium.

Here’s what you do:
Call* and leave the message below with the CDC, Senator Warren, Senator Markey
and your Congressional Representative (See below for their numbers):

“Hello, my name is                         . I live in [name of your town].
Don’t let the CDC’s Eviction Moratorium order expire. It must continue until all danger of spreading COVID is past. A deluge of evictions is scheduled across the country. Massachusetts and the US are not ready for the dangers created by the predictable and big increase in homelessness and doubling-up of housing.

As my elected legislator, I am asking you to both contact the CDC and support
emergency legislation to:

  • Extend the federal Eviction Moratorium until end of September (as Fannie Mae
    and Freddie Mac have);
  • Ensure any new Moratorium covers all evictions (except where someone is
    endangering another person);
  • Define Residential Housing inclusively as all “Housing where a person lives.”

Here is my email address: _____________. Please keep me updated on your fight
for this Eviction Moratorium extension and against foreclosures.
Thank you.”

* We are including email addresses – calls are more powerful but you can do both.

When you have finished the call, e-mail Grace Ross, MAAPL coordinator at maaplinfo@yahoo.com. Tell her
whom you called and that you asked them to extend the CDC’s Eviction Moratorium and get in the crucial language.

If you don’t know who your Congressional Representatives is, go to WhereDoIVoteMA.com. Type in your address. It will tell you who that person is.

Washington, DC Office Numbers:
CDC (Center for Disease Control):
1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636) or email CDC-INFO
https://wwwn.cdc.gov/DCS/ContactUs/Form

Call both your Massachusetts Senators:

  • Senator Elizabeth Warren: (202) 224-4543
    elizabeth_warren@warren.senate.gov
  • Senator Edward Markey: (202)224-2742
    ed_markey@markey.senate.gov

Call your own Congressional Representative:
(Don’t know yours? Go to www.WhereDoIVoteMA.com)

  • Representative Richard Neal: (202) 225-5601
    Richard.neal@mail.house.gov
  • Representative James McGovern: (202) 225-6101
    James.mcgovern@mail.house.gov
  • Representative Lori Trahan: (202) 225-3411
    Lori.Trahan@mail.house.govrahan@mail.house.gov.
  • Representative Jake Auchincloss: (202) 225-5931
    Jake.auchincloss@mail.house.gov
  • Representative Katherine Clark: (202) 225-2836
    Katherine.clark@mail.house.gov
  • Representative Seth Moulton: (202) 225-8020
    Seth.moulton@mail.house.gov
  • Representative Ayanna Pressley: (202) 225-5111
    Ayanna.pressey@mail.house.gov
  • Representative Steven Lynch: (202) 225-8273
    Steven.lynch@mail.house.gov
  • Representative Bill Keating: (202) 225-3111
    Bill.keating@mail.house.gov
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Give Today: Crowdfund MAAPL Through Grassroots Funding Week!

Posted on April 27, 2021 by MAAPL

Please help us celebrate your past involvement with MAAPL and all of the work you have helped us accomplish!

Good news: MAAPL recently received a Community Organizing Grant from the Peace Development Fund!

And they’re providing a great crowdfunding opportunity for MAAPL to reach out to you and multiply their gift to our movement! Now is the time to stop the next tsunami of foreclosures AND bring justice to all those who have faced illegal foreclosures—we can now show basically all have been illegal and even criminal, BUT we need the resources to do it!

You can give here: https://www.mightycause.com/story/Supportmapl

As part of our grant from the Peace Development Fund, MAAPL is participating in a crowdfunding campaign through Grassroots Funding Week. Our organization is being spotlighted TODAY under the banner of HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT alongside other social justice organizations from across the country.

We’re reaching out to ask if you would consider making a grassroots contribution of $10-$100 (remember, MAAPL asks you to never give what you cannot afford) to support our fundraising campaign. These funds make our work and justice for all of us possible—this year is going to include grassroots engagement, impact lawsuits, anti-racist legislation, breakthrough research, new outreach and unprecedented wins.

And TODAY is our day of this WEEK of fundraising hosted for US. And we are going to keep it going as a major funding drive through Grace’s 60th birthday month of June.

THANKS in advance for your continuing participation and fight! And this week, please give a monetary gift and stay safe and well (and tell your friends, co-workers and family)!

Grace Ross and the entire MAAPL Board, including:
Magalys Troncoso
Liz Bewsee
Roxanne Reddington-Wilde
Dawn Duncan
Zakiya Alake
Esther Ngotho
Tony Branch
Lee Goldstein

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Join the MAAPL Team! MAAPL Seeks Paralegal/Project Manager

Posted on December 12, 2020 by MAAPL

Help support the historic movement of pro se homeowners and tenants fighting illegal foreclosure and eviction in the Massachusetts Court System!  The Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) is a nonprofit coalition of 70+ member and endorsing organizations: housing counseling agencies, legal services groups, social service agencies, and community-based social action groups, cooperating to reverse the ongoing foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts by means of:

  • Litigation – Developing materials for the use of pro se litigants fighting for their homes
  • Foreclosure Rights education for homeowners and tenants and educating the public about the foreclosure crisis
  • Legislative initiatives
  • Community Organizing of tenants, homeowners, and allies.

MAAPL seeks a part- to full-time Paralegal under the supervision of MAAPL’s statewide Coordinator and our attorneys to work shoulder-to-shoulder with homeowners and tenants fighting illegal foreclosures in parallel with related community organizing.

This position also requires project management skills, including online tracking, management of hard copy materials, and efficient production of pleadings. As a very small operation, administrative and tracking functions are necessarily shared. This position would require some leadership in those areas.

You will assist with intakes, research law, help revise our pro se litigants’ template, help prepare impact litigation at the state and—eventually—national level, provide instructional information and on-line template legal materials as well as coordinate their posting with the tech team, and collaborate with member organizations to ensure assistance for pro se homeowners.

You should be a self-starter, able to work effectively both independently and with a team, and committed to serving pro se homeowners with patience, including those in crisis or with limited English. Responsibilities include educating pro se homeowners and tenants regarding their rights. Some work meetings are in Worcester, working remotely is negotiable (and preferred for the vast majority of time during the COVID pandemic).

Requirements

The successful applicant will be:

  • A multi-tasker and voracious learner comfortable working in a fast-paced, nonprofit organization;
  • Interested in learning applicable law and providing litigation support to pro se homeowners, and (ideally) experienced in helping non-lawyers learn relevant law.
  • Able to draft and update legal template documents such as motions, complaints, and other documents as well as to research and support the production of legal briefs; and
  • Reliable at organization and attention to detail on a deadline.

Qualifications

Preference given to candidates who have dealt with foreclosure in their own lives;

  • Education: Paralegal certification or comparable experience;
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills;
  • Proficiency in conducting internet legal research;
  • Experience with Microsoft Office Suite and Google Apps;
  • Ability and willingness to assume increasingly more complex tasks and short-term projects;
  • Additional language(s) to English a plus.
  • Comfort with online word processing, listserves, project management tools.
  • Administrative and project management efficiency.
  • Demonstrated commitment to nonprofit work and opposing injustice!

For more information about MAAPL and our work, please visit our website at www.maapl.info

To apply for this position, please submit a resume, 3 references and a 3-page writing sample by email to Grace Ross, Coordinator, at MAAPLInfo@yahoo.com or by fax to 508-630-1686.

Position open immediately. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, but you are encouraged to apply by January 11th, 2021.

The Mass Alliance Against Predatory Lending is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer, and encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or veteran status, or to other non-work related factors.

Organizing, Advocating, and Educating— When We Fight, We Win!

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Take Action! Nov. 17th MAAPL Call-In Day to the MA Senate

Posted on November 16, 2020 by MAAPL

Photo of MA State HouseGet Anti-Foreclosure Language in the State Budget!
Now is the time to push for Justice!

Your voice gets results! Call your state Senator TODAY!

 
Also call Senate President Karen Spilka (617-722-1500); Senate Ways & Means Chairman Rodrigues (617-722-1114) and Vice-Chair Friedman (617-722-1432).
 
Ask them to put the Foreclosure & Eviction Moratorium language in the State Budget and support critical anti-foreclosure amendments.
Unlike the House budget, there is no one amendment to get a moratorium reinstated! So, ask for it in general and let your state Senator know why it is life-threatening not to have a moratorium and mention the two amendments that provide pieces of a moratorium!
 
Then, email your friends and family, post to Facebook, Twitter and other networks and connections you have. Ask them to call their legislators too. Let’s Create a Tidal Surge of Voices Against Foreclosure!
Here’s what to do:
If you don’t know who your senator is, go to WhereDoIVotema.com. Type in your address. It will tell you whom your elected officials are and their phone numbers.
 
What do I say? Leave the message below (Legislator’s offices are empty but staff  check phones regularly]:
 
“Hello, my name is                    . I live in [name of your town].
 
Please vote for the following anti-foreclosure budget amendments. Tell President Spilka, Ways & Means Chair Rodrigues and Vice-Chair Friedman you support them:
•     Amendment #410: Stop taxing mortgage debt reduction in Massachusetts when you receive a mortgage modification or lose your home to foreclosure.
•     Amendment #58: Create the Resolution Trust Fund so illegally-held, overpriced mortgages can be rewritten for homeowners to afford and paid into a state fund which help rebuild our economy and the communities hardest hit by foreclosures.
•     Re-instate the moratorium on foreclosures and evictions – we need this entire life-saving law! Especially given a curfew from 10pm to 5am and that children have to learn remotely. Please support amendments #362 and #388 and add a complete moratorium.
 
Please, as my Senator, will you fight to protect our homes during this COVID-19 emergency?
 
Thank you.”
 
When you have finished the call, e-mail Grace Ross, MAAPL Coordinator. Tell her who your Legislators are and that you asked them to get crucial anti-foreclosure language into the State Budget: maaplinfo@yahoo.com

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