REUSSER v. WACHOVIA BANK, N. A.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in REUSSER v. WACHOVIA BANK, N. A., No. 06-35850, a civil rights appeal. The panel consisted of Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Susan P. Graber, and Consuelo M. Callahan, Circuit Judges.
O’SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:
We must decide whether alleged fraud in a state court home foreclosure proceeding during the homeowners’ bankruptcy can be re-visited in federal court. I A In December 2001, Kenneth and Gertrude Reusser received an $860,000 loan from Long Beach Mortgage Company, placing as collateral a home that had been in Kenneth’s family for more than 100 years. Five months after receiving the loan, the Reussers stopped making payments. In April 2003, Long Beach Mortgage Company assigned its interest to Wachovia Bank, which gave notice to the Reussers that it intended to foreclose on the property through Washington Mutual Bank, its loan servicing institution. . . .