A recent ruling by a judge in Massachusetts Land Court may have wide-sweeping changes for how foreclosures are handled.

Judge Keith Long ruled in Hampden County Land Court on March 26 that two foreclosures in Springfield were invalid because the foreclosing institutions could not prove they owned the property at the time of the foreclosure auction.

The two loan servicers involved, Wells Fargo Bank and U.S. Bank, did not officially have proper title for the properties when they published the foreclosure notice, or when they held the foreclosure auction, as the law requires.

The cases, U.S. Bank v. Ibanez and Wells Fargo v. Larace, were originally in front of Judge Long to determine whether foreclosure notices published in The Boston Globe for properties in Springfield were valid. The property owners claimed they should have been printed in the Springfield Republican.

Long ruled the Globe publication was sufficient, but ruled against the banks for not having proper title. The decision has raised concerns over creating a possible foreclosure bottleneck for banks that have been handling foreclosures similarly for years. Foreclosure lawyers are concerned about civil procedure, claiming Long stepped outside his bounds when he changed the tenor of the case.

The decision may also affect how title insurers handle foreclosures.  Industry insiders said that the ruling would likely cause title insurance companies to pull back their coverage, unable to insure properties that don’t have clear ownership.

The court will hear a motion to reconsider on April 20.