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Res Judicata - A Bar to Recovery Under TILA?

Res Judicata - A Bar to Recovery Under TILA?
The Legal Intelligencer
By Harper J. Dimmerman, Esq. and James Lammendola, Esq.
November 02, 2009

A veritable sea of mortgage defaults and the accompanying foreclosure litigation undoubtedly represents a sign of the current economic times. And, with such activity, allegations of predatory lending practices in the form of Truth in Lending Act, or TILA, violations should come as no surprise to practitioners on either side of the bar. These demands for relief, whether rescissionary or monetary in nature, at times, may never be asserted until after foreclosure litigation has already commenced. In what many will consider a victory for lenders throughout the state, our Pennsylvania Superior Court was recently called upon to review a Chester County decision that implicated the doctrine of res judicata, as applied to TILA claims asserted subsequent to the entry of a default judgment.