Consumer Law : Foreclosure – Mediation Requirement – Ordinance

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Where a county enacted an ordinance that would require lenders to participate in mediation before foreclosing on residential borrowers and to pay fees for non-compliance, the judgment for the county is reversed and remanded because the county exceeded its charter authority, making the ordinance void, but the lenders were not entitled to an award of attorney’s fees under the Hancock Amendment since the ordinance is void.

Foreclosure crisis

Dissenting opinion by Teitelman, J.: “I would hold that the ordinance is a valid exercise of the County’s legislative power because the ordinance is precisely tailored to the local symptoms of the foreclosure crisis.”
Judgment is reversed and remanded.
Missouri Bankers Association, Inc. v. St. Louis County (MLW No. 67130/ Case No. SC93848 – 19 pages) (Supreme Court of Missouri, Draper III, J.; Russell, C.J., Breckenridge, Fischer, Stith and Wilson, JJ., concur. Teitelman, J., dissents in separate opinion) Appealed from circuit court, St. Louis County, Loftin, J. (Jane E. Dueker, Charles W. Hatfield and Jamie L. Boyer, St. Louis, for appellants) (Patricia Redington, Clayton, for respondent).

Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)