UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS KAREN MICHELE SALA MICHAELS, Plaintiff, Civil Action No. 3:10-cv-11471-MAP v. WELLS FARGO HOME MORTGAGE, a division of WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., Defendant AFFIDAVIT OF FRANCIS K. MORRIS, PLAINTIFF’S COUNSEL, IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF I, Francis K. Morris, on my oath hereby swear and affirm as follows: 1. I am a member of the bar of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a member of the bar of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and I am counsel for the plaintiff, Karen Michele Sala Michaels, in this action. 2. On Thursday, August 5, 2010, I filed with the Franklin Superior Court a complaint and accompanying papers, seeking to temporarily restrain the impending mortgage foreclosure auction of the plaintiff’s home in Sunderland Massachusetts. On that day, Justice Rup granted the restraining order and set a date for hearing on the preliminary injunction for Wednesday, August 11, before Justice Carhart. 3. On August 11, I appeared in Superior Court on behalf of my client, and Attorney Scott C. Owens of Harmon Law Offices appeared on behalf of the defendant, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. 4. At that time, Attorney Owens and I entered into preliminary discussions with respect -1 to a settlement of the action, and he and I jointly reported to the Superior Court that we had agreed to try to resolve the matter and we jointly requested an order to stay all foreclosure activity for sixty days. Justice Carhart issued an order from the bench to that effect. 5. After that court appearance, in accordance with our agreement and the Superior Court’s order, both Attorney Owens and I communicated by telephone and corresponded by e- mail. In that connection, I drafted a proposed stipulation for review and comment or approval. (The last sequence of e-mail messages, beginning on August 17, 2010, and ending on August 30, 2010, along with the proposed stipulation is attached to this affidavit as Exhibit H.) 6. On August 27, 2010, at 8:07 AM, Attorney Owens sent me an e-mail message that expressed in part: I have had some success on my end. My contact at Wells Fargo has requested the prior loan modification application and will send it to me once it is received. He has also reviewed his notes and has confirmed that the issue appears to be that the self employment income was not factored into your client’s gross income for the purposes of HAMP calculations. (Exhibit H, page 2 of 4.) 7. I responded to Attorney Owens later on the morning of August 27, writing in part: I believe that with the Wells Fargo documentation and Ms. Michael’s (sic) paperwork, you and I ought to resolve the problem or at least narrow the issues. (Exhibit H, page 2 of 4.) 8. On August 30, 2010, at 10:24 AM, Attorney Owens sent me an e-mail message, which began: “More promising news on my end. Wells Fargo agreed to reopen the prior -2 application.” (Exhibit H, page 1 of 4.) 9. On Friday, August 27, 2010, the Notice of Removal was filed, but I did not receive notice of that removal until the afternoon on Monday, August 30, when the mail arrived in my office. 10. Then on Friday, September 3, 2010, the defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss, but I did not receive notice of that motion until the afternoon of Tuesday, September 7, when the mail arrived in our office. 11. On September 17, 2010, weeks after both the Notice of Removal and the Motion to Dismiss were filed, Attorney Owens sent me yet another e-mail message, in which he represented that the defendant had authorized him to continue settlement negotiations: “I have been contacted by Wells Fargo Bank, who asked me to follow up with you regarding the status of the updated paperwork for a renewed review of your client’s [the plaintiff’s] loan modification application.” (Exhibit H, page 1 of 4.) 12. Because Attorney Scott C. Owens did not speak exclusively for defendant Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and because a motion to dismiss had been filed on behalf of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, I did not respond to Attorney Owens’ e-mail message. Instead, I prepared and filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss. 13. On October 14, 2010, I received an e-mail message from Attorney Jeffrey Patterson, in which he wrote, in part: “As I understand it, Plaintiffs (sic) did not submit the updated financial information needed to process a new modification. As a result, I am not sure there is anything else my client can do at this point in terms of a modification.” 14. On October 19, 2010, I wrote to Attorney Patterson forwarding to him the plaintiff’s -3 recent financial documentation. (A true and exact copy of that letter, without any of the financial documentation that had accompanied it, is attached to this affidavit as Exhibit I.) 15. On October 27, and again on November 1, I called Attorney Patterson to inquire about the status of the plaintiff’s loan modification application in light to the letter and the financial documents that I had sent to him on October 19. In both instances, I reached his voice- mail system and left my name, my telephone number, and the case name, with a request for a return call. 16. On November 2, Attorney Patterson called me and left his name and telephone number in my voice-mail system. 17. Twice on November 3, I called Attorney Patterson and reached his voice-mail system both times. Each time I left my name, my telephone number, and the case name, with a request for a return call. 18. On Thursday, November 4, I called and spoke with Attorney Patterson. He informed me that he did not know what the status of the plaintiff’s loan modification was. He said that he had a telephone call scheduled with his client on the following day, Friday, November 5, and that he would inquire about the plaintiff’s loan modification application and that he would contact me either on Friday, November 5, or on Monday, November 8, to inform me what he had learned. 19. On Friday, November 5, I called Attorney Patterson, but I was only able to reach his voice-mail system. That same afternoon, I wrote a letter to Attorney Patterson. (A true and exact copy of that letter is attached to this affidavit as Exhibit J.) 20. -4 SIGNED UNDER THE PAINS AND PENALTIES OF PERJURY THIS 10th DAY OF NOVEMBER 2010 /s/ Francis K. Morris Francis K. Morris (BBO# 355660) fmorris@wmls.org Western Massachusetts Legal Services Suite 400 One Monarch Place Springfield, Massachusetts 01144 413-781-7814 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Francis K. Morris, hereby certify that this document filed through the ECF system will be sent electronically to the registered participants as identified on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) and paper copies will be sent to those indicated as non-registered participants on this date. November 10, 2010 /s/ Francis K. Morris -5