Wells Fargo Sues Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo Denies Allegations

[notesdev]

You can't expect a bank that is dumb enough to sue itself to know why it is suing itself.

Yet I could not resist asking Wells Fargo Bank NA why it filed a civil complaint against itself in a mortgage foreclosure case in Hillsborough County, Fla.

"Due to state foreclosure laws, lenders are obligated to name and notify subordinate lien holders," said Wells Fargo spokesman Kevin Waetke.

Being a taxpayer-subsidized, too-big-to-fail institution, it's possible that one of the few ways for Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC: 22.91, -0.34, -1.46%) to know what it is doing is to notify itself with a court filing.

In this particular case, Wells Fargo holds the first and second mortgages on a condominium, according to Sarasota, Fla., attorney Dan McKillop, who represents the condo owner.

As holder of the first, Wells Fargo is suing all other lien holders, including the holder of the second, which is itself.

"The primary reason is to clear title and ownership interest in a property to prepare it for sale," Waetke said in an email exchange. "So it really is not Wells Fargo vs. Wells Fargo."

Yet court documents clearly label "Wells Fargo Bank NA" as the plaintiff and "Wells Fargo Bank NA" as a defendant.

Wells Fargo hired Florida Default Law Group., P.L., of Tampa, Fla., to file the lawsuit against itself.

And then Wells Fargo hired another Tampa law firm -- Kass, Shuler, Solomon, Spector, Foyle & Singer P.A. -- to defend itself against its own lawsuit, according to court documents.

Wells Fargo's defense lawyers even filed an answer to their client's own complaint.

"Defendant admits that it is the owner and holder of a mortgage encumbering the subject real property," the answer reads. "All other allegations of the complaint are denied."

....

Headline appropriated from:

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/07/wells-fargo-sues-wells-fargo-wells.html


Original story:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/al-lewis-wells-fargo-bank-sues/

[Kadie]

1. Reading that made my head hurt.

:crazy:



;)

[notesdev]

3. The best part

you are paying for this nonsense

[MercutioATC]

2. This is what we have become.

I understand the legal reasons that Wells Fargo (first mortgage holder) had filed against Wells Fargo (second mortgage holder)...but this is a perfect example of what is wrong with our society.

Things that have no business making sense now make perfect sense.

[glowing]

4. Its amazing that these too big to fail institutions are this insane.

They cannot make a decision internally because there is no head cheese person that can... so, they use legal proceedings because they have no one at the wheel... which is why the economy was driven into a ditch.

[MercutioATC]

5. Actually, it makes a lot of sense.

Any institution that is "too big to fail" and still does obviously doesn't have stellar internal communication.

This (IMO) is just more evidence that 1) some corporations are, actually, too big to be allowed to exist, and 2) our legal system has become convoluted to the point that it often makes no practical sense.