Brown v. Fed. Nat'l Mortg. Ass'n
Brown v. Fed. Nat'l Mortg. Ass'n
Opinion of the Court
Grace C. Ross, pro se, amicus curiae, submitted a brief.
RESCRIPT
**1036The petitioner, Debra Brown, appeals from a judgment of a single justice of this court denying her petition pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3. We affirm.
The respondent, Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), acquired title to Brown's home following a foreclosure sale in May 2010. Shortly thereafter, and stemming from the foreclosure, Brown commenced an action against FNMA and Bank of America Corporation (the mortgage servicer at the time of the foreclosure) in the Superior Court. FNMA and Bank of America Corporation removed the action to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. A judge in that court dismissed the action, and, after Brown appealed, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the dismissal. Brown's subsequent petition for a writ of certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court in October 2012. In the meantime, in September 2012, FNMA commenced a summary process action against Brown in the Housing Court. In October 2015, judgment entered in that court in favor of FNMA. Brown appealed. The Appeals Court affirmed the judgment, and this court denied Brown's subsequent application for further appellate review. See Federal Nat'l Mtge. Ass'n v. Brown,
More recently, in May and June of 2018, Brown filed several new motions in the Housing Court, including a motion to vacate the summary process judgment. After the Housing Court denied the motions, Brown sought review via a petition to a single justice of the Appeals Court, which was denied on June 15, 2018. On July 23, 2018, Brown filed her G. L. c. 211, § 3, petition in the county court. In the petition, although Brown did request relief from the foreclosure of her own home, she focused more generally and almost exclusively on the recent foreclosure crisis, complaining about the mortgage industry and its related institutions and the counsel who represent them. The single justice denied the petition without a hearing. Brown then submitted several additional documents in *32the county court, including a motion for reconsideration on the basis of "newly discovered and prepared additional information" and a motion to stay execution, which the single justice denied.
In her appeal to this court, Brown has largely changed course, and now focuses on the Land Court judge's judgment in a Servicemembers Civil Relief Act proceeding that preceded the foreclosure of her home. See HSBC Bank USA, N.A. v. Matt,
One route for Brown to raise her jurisdictional challenge to the foreclosing mortgagee's standing, the validity of the foreclosure, and her subsequent eviction would be to move for relief from the judgment on the ground that it was void ab initio. See Rule 11(b) of the Uniform Summary Process Rules (1980); Mass. R. Civ. P. 60 (b) (4),
As to the other issues that Brown raises, which she has raised in various other courts, that she is unhappy with those results does not mean that those remedies were inadequate. "Our general superintendence power under G. L. c. 211, § 3, is extraordinary and to be exercised sparingly, not as a substitute for the normal appellate process or merely to provide an additional layer of appellate review after the normal process has run its course." Votta v. Police Dep't of Billerica,
The single justice did not err or abuse his discretion in denying relief under G. L. c. 211, § 3.
The petitioner also submitted, in the county court, a photocopy of a "motion to vacate and void judgments and orders." Although the single justice purported to deny the motion, alongside his denial of the motions for reconsideration and to stay execution, the motion to vacate was merely a copy of a motion that had been directed to, filed in, and denied by the Housing Court.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Debra BROWN v. FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION.
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published