Washington Mutual (WAMU), who received a windfall by foreclosing upon a Maryland family after WAMU lost paperwork showing it had been paid, is now paying for losing paperwork in another mortgage.

Since 2002, Joe Lents had not made a payment on his $1.5 million home in Boca Raton. WAMU tried to foreclose, but could not prove that it held the mortgage note because it had lost the paperwork. Is Joe Lents a deadbeat? Well, it sure sounds like it, because he agreed to pay back the money he borrowed. But in the case of WAMU, I say what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!

Across the country homeowners are using this failure on the part of the mortgagors as a defense to prevent foreclosure and it looks as if federal judges are not unsympathetic. I feel the same; if these corporations want to lend out and then constantly resell these subprime mortgages, they should be required to keep the paperwork in order to at least prove who owes what to whom. Otherwise, we see situations like the two above where both sides can get hurt.