>> Don't forget that a contract is still a contract without
>> a written memorialization ...
>
> What about the statute of frauds, which requires a
> writing of contracts above a certain amount of money ?
c b, ITYWAL?
Statue of Frauds is not a defense in the case of Partial Performance. That is: if I pay you for a while and then discover the paperwork doesn't exist, I can't use the amount of money involved to completely nullify the contract.
[ Again, IANAL, but I think where this would come into play is if I drunkenly told you at the bar last night that I would buy your 1978 Chevy Van for $80M, you couldn't force performance the next day because you didn't get it in writing ... SoF would be a defense for me. So that's an interesting bit of old English Law, but it's not applicable here ]
We're back where I said -- the banks have to try harder to make the case that they can foreclose due to lack of payment in the present, but the homeowner isn't going to get any money back, and it's quite likely the foreclosure will eventually go through anyway, because getting the paperwork in order isn't impossible in these cases, just potentially expensive.
Not too expensive to give up on a foreclosure, though.
However: score one for Obama for vetoing the end-run attempt.
/jordan