Foreclosure proceedings dismissed without prejudice

[Dave G.]

Hi all-

So I'm doing some research on an REO in my area. I have prior owner, date of deed transfer to bank, original mortgage amount. I found the court transcripts from the foreclosure proceedings in hopes that they would have a judgement amount or some kind of indication of what was owed or past due (of course there wasn't). The odd thing is, if I'm reading this right, the Plantiff (bank) motioned to dismiss after a few reschedulings of the court date. The whole process from summons to dismissal took from Sept of 2010 - July 2012.

Knowing that it has been deeded back to the bank, was this some sort of out of court settlement? 

Did the bank decide not to proceed as long as the owner handed the property back to them?

Also, interestingly enough this was listed as a judicial foreclosure, but i cannot find any other court cases. 

[Jim Viens]

Probably what's called a "Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure". The borrower deeds the house back to the bank to prevent a full foreclosure showing up on their credit.