David Merritt has filed a lawsuit against Specialized Loan Servicing and other defendants in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District. The case ID is H049638 and it was filed on April 19, 2024. The lawsuit stems from two related state court actions that David Merritt and his wife, Salma Merritt, initiated in 2018 and 2020 concerning an attempted foreclosure sale of their home.
The Merritts had purchased their Sunnyvale home with financing in 2006 but defaulted on their loans in 2008. In October 2020, during litigation, the trial court deemed the Merritts as vexatious litigants under Code of Civil Procedure section 391 et seq., requiring them to obtain permission from the presiding judge before filing any new litigation as self-represented parties. Additionally, they were ordered to post a bond amounting to $250,000.
Following this ruling, the nonjudicial foreclosure sale of the Merritts' home took place in October 2020 which led to them filing a wrongful foreclosure action in November 2020. In January 2021, both cases were consolidated for all purposes by the trial court. On November 22, 2021, another prefiling order was issued which increased the bond amount to $500,000.
The Merritts are now appealing against this latest prefiling order on grounds that there is no substantial evidence supporting the court's findings therein. They also seem to be challenging two prejudgment orders entered in both cases although these were not specified in their notice of appeal.