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Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Protects Mortgage for JPMorgan Chase Defeating Fraud Allegations

In Martinez v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., et. al., Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. conceived, negotiated, and orchestrated a pre-trial settlement, in which JPMorgan Chase’s $477,000 mortgage was declared a valid interest secured by a property in Queens, New York, despite an alleged fraudulent deed transfer in the chain of title.

The elderly, Spanish-only speaking prior owner of the property claimed that his stepson, the current owner of the property, fraudulently induced him into signing a quitclaim deed transferring the property to his stepson. The stepson took out the JPMorgan Chase mortgage, which mortgage the elderly stepfather commenced this action to have declared as void for fraud. In the face of this seemingly invalid deed transfer and distressing allegations of coercion and fraud, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. prevailed in successfully settling this Article 15 action to quiet title with a global settlement, release, and discontinuance agreement, avoiding both costly motion practice and, more importantly, a long, drawn-out trial.

After complex discovery and deliberate lines of questioning in depositions, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was able to prove that the elderly plaintiff was not as illiterate in English as he had claimed, thereby arming JPMorgan Chase with the defenses needed to force the plaintiff into a settlement of this action that was 100% favorable to JPMorgan Chase. Per the Second Department, a party who executes a deed is presumed to know its contents and is conclusively bound by it, and an inability to understand the English language, without more, is insufficient to avoid this general rule. Using this Appellate Division law, a settlement was entered into by which the elderly plaintiff and his stepson agreed to a payment plan between themselves, and the JP Morgan Chase mortgage continued its position as being a valid interest, secured by the property.

Jackie Halpern Weinstein and Colin E. Kaufman of the Title Litigation Group at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. won this case for the insured.

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