Hefferman v. Bitton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate · 1 district · 2 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Congress probably enacted § 1635(f) because it worried that allowing a consumer to rescind after selling his residence would cloud property titles and inhibit transactions. See Federal Reserve Board, Annual Report to Congress on Truth in Lending for the Year 1972, reprinted in 119 Cong.Rec. 4596, 4597 (1983) (discussing the policies behind § 1635(f)). Terminating the right to rescind when the consumer irrevocably agrees to sell his property fulfills this policy better than terminating the right upon the actual conveyance. Allowing consumers to rescind or attempt to rescind after entering such a contract implicates the rights of the purchaser and his financing agency and could produce needless litigation and other difficulties. Although Hefferman may have concealed the attempted rescission from the Malcolms, or informed them of her intentions but assuaged their doubts by paying the lenders in full at the conveyance, some sellers might attempt to extract an advantage from their buyers. By threatening to rescind, for example, they might attempt to impede, delay, or abort a sale or to exact tribute from a buyer who worries that the original creditor, if not paid, may demand payment at a later date, a possibility that might cause the buyer’s banker to withdraw his loan commitment. If the cutoff for rescission occurs upon the contract to sell, however, these possibilities will be eliminated and all buyers will know exactly what they are facing.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Dawson v. Thomas (In Re Dawson)

2. “... [W]e hold that Hefferman should have sent the notice before contracting to sell her property. Although we have found no precedent on the issue, we believe that the "sale" that § 1635(f) establishes as a deadline (whether for sending a notice or bringing a lawsuit) occurs at this time, and not at the time of the ultimate conveyance.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 792 So. 2d 527 - Dailey v. Leshin

3. “Even if § 1635(f) were interpreted to refer only to the time at which a consumer must notify a lender of his intention to rescind, a proposition that we need not decide, we hold that Hefferman should have sent the notice before contracting to sell her property.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Meyer v. Ameriquest Mortgage Co.