On January 7, 2011, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that banks are barred from foreclosing on property if they cannot prove that, at the time the foreclosure was initiated, they were the holders of the mortgage. This decision sent bank stocks downward, on the fear that completed foreclosures in Massachusetts would be deemed invalid. Concerns also arose that this decision could impact states other than Massachusetts. Wells Fargo, one of the defendants, downplayed the significance of the ruling, stating that it only created a more complex legal process in Massachusetts alone.


Seal of Massachusetts

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