By Andrew Narod, Jon Patterson, Aaron Chastain and Thomas Lynch ( April 17, 2018, 12:59 PM EDT) -- The District of Columbia Court of Appeals recently sent a new set of shockwaves through the mortgage industry in the nation's capital when it released its March 1, 2018, decision in Andrea Liu v. U.S. Bank National Association. Having held over three years ago that condominium associations have "superpriority" liens for unpaid assessments and can wipe out first mortgages by foreclosing on those liens, the court in its recent Liu decision went an unexpected step farther: An association's foreclosure would wipe out the first mortgage even if the association expressly stated that it intended for the foreclosure to be held subject to that mortgage. Secured lenders who thought they might have dodged the bullet now find themselves fighting for the validity of their security interests....