One unclaimed envelope decided a seven-figure foreclosure – and the borrowers learned it too late
Mailing an Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program notice is enough to foreclose in Connecticut, even when the envelope comes back unclaimed.
In a decision officially released June 2, 2026, the Connecticut Appellate Court affirmed a strict foreclosure judgment for Wells Fargo Bank, acting as trustee for an Option One mortgage loan trust.
The takeaway for anyone running a foreclosure pipeline in the state is direct: the EMAP notice requirement is met by sending the notice, not by proving the borrower received it.
Start with the loan. On or about January 10, 2007, Barry Burns signed a promissory note for $974,940, plus interest, payable to Option One Mortgage Corporation. He and Christine Burns secured it with a mortgage on property they owned in Fairfield, and the deed was recorded that same month. The mortgage was assigned to Wells Fargo as trustee in 2010. After the borrowers fell behind, the bank accelerated the loan, called the full balance due, and moved to foreclose. It commenced the action on June 19, 2019.
The appeal turned on a single step in Connecticut's foreclosure process. Before a lender can foreclose an eligible mortgage, it must give the homeowner an EMAP notice, a heads-up about a state program meant to help struggling borrowers keep their homes. The Burnses argued the bank never properly gave them that notice. Their reading of the law: mailing might be enough to file the lawsuit, but a foreclosure judgment cannot enter unless the notice is actually delivered.
The record told a tidy story. The bank's servicing agent sent the EMAP notice by certified mail to the property on December 10, 2018. An affidavit from Flora V. Rashtchy, a contract management coordinator at the servicing agent, pointed to postal tracking showing the notice was returned to sender after going unclaimed. It went out. Nobody picked it up.
The trial court ruled for the bank. It granted summary judgment, a decision reached without a full trial, finding the statute does not require proof of actual delivery, only proof the notice was sent by certified mail. The court later entered a judgment of strict foreclosure, setting the debt at $1,888,552.18 and the property's fair market value at $1,850,000, with law days to begin July 29, 2025.
The Appellate Court backed that up. Leaning on a companion case it released the same day, U.S. Bank National Assn. v. Jackson, the court held that the notice provisions do not require actual delivery. Mailing does the job. It affirmed the judgment.
So, what does this mean for how you run your shop? In Connecticut, the EMAP notice is a sending requirement, not a delivery requirement. Document the certified mailing on every file – the date, the address, the tracking. A notice that goes out and comes back unclaimed still counts, and here it was enough to push a seven-figure foreclosure across the line.
