Opinion ID: 200991
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Scheme # 2: The Double Assignment of the Mortgage

Text: 12 On or about April 14, 2000 — using funds from the $1.56 million wire — McCann loaned $250,000 to Robert and Edward Allen for their purchase of a building in Springfield. 2 The Allens, in turn, provided McCann with a note secured by a mortgage on the building and agreed to tender monthly payments to Winniman & Winniman. 13 McCann thereafter proceeded to assign the Allens' mortgage to two different buyers. First, on May 18, 2000, he assigned the mortgage to Brian David for $175,000, with Winniman & Winniman handling the details. Under the agreement, the Allens would simply continue forwarding payments to Winniman & Winniman, which would then issue checks to David. For some reason, David did not immediately record the assignment; according to David, there was a possibility that McCann would buy back the mortgage in a short period of time. 14 Approximately one month after this assignment, aided by David's failure to record, McCann assigned the same mortgage to Paul Picknelly for $165,000. Picknelly (through his attorney) immediately recorded the assignment and, on June 21, 2000, mailed to the Allens a letter (the June 21st letter) notifying them of the change and directing them to make payments directly to him rather than through Winniman & Winniman. Having received in the interim some payments from the Allens (and perhaps unaware of the new assignment), Rossman thereafter began making payments to David — by personal check. 3 15 Sometime around July 20, 2000, David (unaware, of course, of McCann's subsequent dealings) received from McCann an undated letter stating that the corporation for which McCann worked had voted to repurchase the mortgage and would accordingly send payment by August 3rd. In early August 2000, a partner at Winniman & Winniman discovered David's unrecorded assignment; after contacting David, the partner immediately recorded the assignment only to learn that the Allens' mortgage had also been assigned to — and promptly recorded by — Picknelly.