In 2002, Ms. Palmer filed for bankruptcy protection to protect her home from a quick sale on the courthouse steps. She continued to make mortgage payments, to the bankruptcy court.

Mr. Rothbloom took her case in 2003, suing the Bank of New York for levying fees on Ms. Palmer that had not been authorized by the bankruptcy court. The note securing the property was assigned to Bank of New York in September 2002, two months after it had begun foreclosure proceedings against Ms. Palmer. As a result, Mr. Rothbloom maintained, the bank had no standing to foreclose.

The two sides battled for five years, until last month.

“The Ms. Palmers of the world can’t afford to resolve these types of disputes,” Mr. Rothbloom said. “So they usually wind up losing their homes.”

Bank of New York declined to comment on the settlement.

The problems associated with banks that begin foreclosure proceedings when they do not have proper legal standing are now looming larger in the mortgage meltdown. Loans were heaped into trusts with little documentation of ownership or proper loan assignments  it was all about volume and the fees that came with it  and now that sloppiness is hurting both lenders and borrowers.

Mr. Rothbloom said he had another case in which the lender’s representative has been unable to prove ownership for two and a half years.

Meanwhile, consumer lawyers fear that borrowers are being pushed out of their homes by companies that have no right to do so. Such a prospect is particularly worrisome for residents in states that allow lenders to foreclose without court supervision, known as nonjudicial foreclosure states.

Georgia is one; its borrowers can lose their homes on the courthouse steps less than a month after foreclosure notices have been posted.