The Law Office of J. Patrick Sutton

Mortgage lien invalidated on statute of limitations grounds

Today, the Texas Supreme Court refused to disturb a decision by the Tyler Court of Appeals invalidating a mortgage lien. See Landers v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, 461 S.W.3d 923 (Tex. App. - Tyler 2015, pet. denied). This was a case I handled at all levels of trial and appeal. The Texas Supreme Court had requested full briefing on the merits, so all the arguments were before the high court. Ultimately, the rule of law prevailed over strong lender protests that applying the statute of limitations was unfair.

The lender and servicer, Nationstar Mortgage LLC, sued the Landers, a family in Athens, Texas, to foreclose. However, the lender's suit was filed more than four years after the lender accelerated the loan. The lender argued that an injunction in a prior lawsuit that had barred a nonjudicial foreclosure sale for a few weeks had also prevented the lender from filing a lawsuit to foreclose. The 3-judge panel of the Texas Court of Appeals in Tyler unanimously rejected that argument and declared the lien void. Nationstar asked the Texas Supreme Court to reverse the Tyler Court of Appeals, but the Texas Supreme Court declined that invitation.
Landers is now good law and stands as one of the very few modern cases in Texas voiding a mortgage lien on limitations grounds.
The Law Office of J. Patrick Sutton