Florida court finds for bank in major foreclosure case

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/09/us-foreclosure-florida-ruling-idUSBRE91801220130209

(Reuters) - Florida's highest court has ruled a homeowner cannot re-open a voluntarily dismissed foreclosure case despite allegations that the bank falsified documents, giving a win to banks in a closely watched ruling that could have affected thousands of cases in a state hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.

The Florida Supreme Court had been asked to decide whether banks accused of using fraudulent documents to file foreclosure lawsuits could dismiss the cases, and then later re-file them with different paperwork.

The case involves a foreclosure brought against homeowner Roman Pino in 2008 by Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N), the trustee for the security that owned his loan. The mortgage was serviced by Bank of America (BAC.N).

Pino asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that the documents filed by the bank and its attorneys had been fraudulently backdated. The case stems from the robo-signing scandal, in which banks and law firms allegedly signed off on foreclosure documents without verifying their accuracy.