DCA REVERSES JUDGMENT FOR BORROWER | Key Points

Updated: Mar 21

Florida’s Fifth DCA just reversed a judgment entered in a foreclosure case against the mortgagee and in favor of the borrower (“Bell”) due to lack of standing. U.S. Bank National Association as Trustee for Ramp 2006EFC2 v. Bell, Case No. 5D21-2528, 2023 WL 446866 (Fla. 5th DCA 2023).
The DCA concluded the lower court’s ruling that the PSA proffered by US Bank was inadmissible hearsay was reversible error. In reversing that evidentiary ruling, the DCA compared the PSA to a will, contract, assignment, mortgage modification, or a promissory note; each of which had been previously determined by other courts not to be hearsay because those documents had “independent legal significance” to which the law attached “duties and liability.”
Although the DCA reversed the judgment for Bell, the court did not enter a foreclosure judgment. Instead, the court remanded the matter “for further proceedings” which, ostensibly, would include consideration of the PSA to demonstrate US Bank’s standing. Importantly, both the DCA and the trial court noted that US Bank could demonstrate its standing “through a PSA where the note is part of the trust established by the PSA prior to suit being filed.”