Court dismisses all unconscionability claims, almost all of the claims asserted by half of the Plaintiffs, and other contract-based claims in the recent summary judgment order
In a decision released on August 22, 2025, the Court wrote: “To the extent Plaintiffs argue that they did not read the documents they signed at the SUN closing and that therefore their expectations control regardless of what’s contained in those documents, that argument is meritless.”
“The Court made clear that Plaintiffs cannot succeed by arguing that they did not read the documents they signed at their closings,” said Sara Jane Shanahan of Sherin and Lodgen LLP, counsel for BlueHub.
Instead, the Court found Plaintiffs “had ample time” to read the relevant documents prior to signing them at the closing. Thus, Plaintiffs’ claims of unconscionability fail as a matter of law.
“The Court determined Plaintiffs received demonstrable value in their SUN Program transactions,” said Shanahan. The Court then dismissed the Plaintiffs’ claims for lack of consideration and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
The ruling barred half of the Plaintiffs from moving forward to trial for most of the claims. Of these five Plaintiffs, three families still live in the homes they had previously lost to foreclosure and continue to have the benefit of reduced first mortgage principal and reduced monthly payments; the other two families have since sold their homes for a profit.
Of the five remaining Plaintiffs, two have already paid off their SUN mortgages, two are still current on their monthly mortgage payments, and one stopped making mortgage payments before the suit was filed in early 2020. This last Plaintiff (a married couple who had also defaulted on prior mortgages as early as 2006) are more than five years behind on their SUN mortgage payments.
Before their SUN transactions, one family had already lost the home and was fighting eviction; other families had already defaulted on loan modification plans or been refused a loan modification; one family sought the SUN transaction in connection with bankruptcy court-approved relief. BlueHub believes that the evidence at trial will show that the Plaintiffs –
- were able to remain in their homes as homeowners, notwithstanding pending or completed foreclosure proceedings and imminent eviction;
- substantially reduced their first mortgage debt by as much as $160,000;
- substantially reduced their monthly mortgage payments; and
- were no longer underwater as they were before SUN, and earned appreciation from day one and from a lower starting point – after SUN convinced their old lender to forgive their old mortgage debt.
Despite these concrete, easily quantifiable benefits, Plaintiffs now unfairly argue that they want even more.
BlueHub strongly disagrees with the Court’s ruling that the SUN Program transactions violated statutory regulations and requirements, and BlueHub plans to appeal on those issues at the appropriate time. BlueHub believes it is important to consider the fact that Plaintiffs reduced their prior mortgage debt and repurchased their homes at or near the fair market value as of the time of their SUN program closings. BlueHub also notes that some Plaintiffs complained to the Massachusetts Division of Banks (DOB) about their SUN program transactions, but the DOB did not give them relief. Instead, for example, the DOB wrote to one Plaintiff in December 2020: “it appears that Blue Hub has not committed any wrongdoings in its agreement with you since it appears that the terms of the mortgage loan and the SAM were properly disclosed to you prior to you signing the mortgage loan closing documents, including the SAM agreement.”
The ruling also failed to recognize the SUN Program’s relation to BlueHub’s core nonprofit mission of building healthy communities where low-income people live and work—a mission BlueHub has been acting upon for 40 years. BlueHub’s lending makes neighborhoods more resilient by financing the construction of affordable housing, health centers, and other community assets; by boosting climate resiliency efforts; and by preventing foreclosures and evictions.
BlueHub will continue to vigorously defend the case and fight to preserve this vital resource for families who are threatened with losing their homes – a resource that will be especially important in the next market downturn, when families could be facing a toxic mix of high unemployment, recession, and high inflation.
BlueHub founded this program to save people’s homes when they were underwater, in default, and facing foreclosure. Others tried to persuade prior lenders to forgive mortgage debt. No one else succeeded. But the SUN Program did. BlueHub will continue to fight for homeowners and stable neighborhoods in Boston and throughout Massachusetts.