2002 Case Successes Archive

Peter and Gail Kelly v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc., Hillsborough Superior Court (2002) (Plaintiff filed suit alleging Defendant violated its duty of good faith and due diligence as articulated in Murphy v. Financial Development Corp., 126 N.H. 536 (1985). Defendant prevailed. Court denied plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment finding that obligations of good faith and due diligence are fixed by circumstances as they exist at time of foreclosure. Plaintiff’s evidence that it entered into post foreclosure purchase and sale agreements for $210,000.00 and later $195,000.00 which exceeded the foreclosure sales price did not establish breach in due diligence, as there was no evidence that prior to foreclosure defendant knew or should have known property was worth $200,000.00. Court distinguished this from Murphy, as the defendant Wells Fargo had no control over plaintiff’s timing or price at which Plaintiffs offered to sell the property. Post foreclosure events cannot form basis for imposing liability on the defendant under Murphy) (Attorney Veronica Viveiros)