5th Circuit Deutsche Bank Appeal

(2018)

The current 5th COA Appeal
(2018)

Mark Hopkins, representing DB, filed their opening brief on 18th and this has been forwarded on April 19th for discussion by BH.

Deutsche Bank Brief (18 April 2018)

Burkes’ Initial Review and Rebuttal on Factually Incorrect Statements Cited by Opposing Counsel Hopkins

“The Burkes do not dispute that they stopped paying the Note in 2010.” (p.10)

Factually wrong and erroneous.
We did not Stop Payment as stated.
Our checks were in fact returned to us as Indymac had gone bust.

MERS did not hold the Deed of Trust.

Indymac had previously sold our mortgage to investors. Wyoming Trust.
Neither was there any Chain of title. No taxes paid by anyone.

IndyMac falsified the Burkes’ income to substantiate the loan

Our loan was fraudulently initiated by the bank stating income we did not have.

If we had been the one to commit this fraud we would be in jail.

If we had had the income that Indymac inserted without our knowledge, why would we have needed a loan in the first instant?

As I (Joanna Burke) explained to the Judge during the trial;
“If I had that kind of income why would I need a loan?”

Timeline of events after first COA ruling

Sept. 8, 2016
Burkes’ Second En Banc Petition (Denied)

Nov. 3, 2016
Email from Beck Redden requesting information

Jan. 13, 2017
Email from Beck Redden attaching “settlement offer” letter from Hopkins (dated Dec 14, 2016)

Jan. 27, 2017
Constitutional hearing with the Hon. Judge Smith. We were advised not to attend. Connie and Fatima were at the hearing which was then set for another round of briefs in a months time. The transcript of this hearing was sent to us in 2018.  Hopkins agreed to the month and the round of briefs.

March 2017
Constitution case ongoing….

Aug. 27, 2018
Hurricane Harvey hits Houston, TX.

Dec. 21, 2018
Opinion on Remand by Hon. Judge Smith.

Jan. 22, 2018
Email from Beck Redden after we requested contact and update re appeal to COA by DB. Response was  “referred to specialist lawyer for opinion” etc, see email below.

Feb. 14, 2018
Mediation which wasn’t a proper mediation as it was clear Beck Redden did not want to represent the Burkes’ as previously advised. During this time Hopkins was sick and also requested time to respond to mediation matters. He delayed proceedings.

Mar. 14, 2018
Beck Redden withdrawal letter to Burkes. Notices also sent to COA (14th of March) and Federal Court (15th of March).

Apparently, Hopkins thinks Sept 2016 – Dec 2017 equals TWO YEARS in his brief.

The Court nor the Burkes’ “delayed” the Case for two years.

(a) the Trial Court’s two-year delay on remand with limited activity requested of the litigants during that period.
(b) the Trial Court’s solicitation and appointment of counsel for the Burkes to serve on a pro bono basis during the remand despite the Burkes sufficient resources to retain their own counsel.

These are erroneous statements, and (b) slander.

The claimed “two year delay” (which is materially overstated, the appeal ended at COA in Sept 2016,  making this appeal filing after a little over a year actually) was most certainly not caused by the Hon. Judge Smith, nor on our behalf.

The timeline of events after the COA ruling(s) is shown herein.

As you can see, from August 2017, we were a direct hit from catastrophic and largest ever Hurricane recorded, Hurricane Harvey, and had four and a half feet of water through-out our home. It took until the end of the year to even get the house cleaned and ready for repair work.  We are currently living in restricted accommodation upstairs, as the house is a shell downstairs.

During the trial Hopkins continued to slander us insisting that we had offshore accounts.

Again I (Joanna Burke) reiterate:

If we had secret funds would we have required a loan?

The simple answer is no.

While I was in business for myself we enjoyed the luxury of being solvent, however, when the business collapsed we were left with only our small pension.

Opposing Counsel Hopkins keeps slandering our good name by making statements that we are effectively lying and hiding assets, without any verifiable facts.

Our Home, Hurricane Harvey, August 2017

“Shelley Douglass (Hopkins) signed the Affidavit presented and relied up by the Court in Givens v Midland.”

“Mark Hopkins represented the bank at trial and on appeal. At this time Hopkins and Douglass were having an affair (not disclosed to the court or to homeowners).”

Five months after the COA decided the case (Dec. 2012) in favor of the Bank, the Affidavit Signer (Douglass) and the Lawyer (Hopkins) were married.

“Interestingly, in the Givens v Midland case Dougless (Hopkins) affidavit is witnessed by Notary DONNA G. WORKMAN. Both her and STEPHEN PORTER, robo-signed thousands of Affidavits for BDF as MERS etc.”

See the Court reference the Douglass affidavit (p. 17) and notary (p. 69)