Matt Weidner – Fighting With The American People

Archive for August, 2010

Attached in this post is 84 pages of material that can form the basis for powerful defense in your foreclosure case.  Good thing it’s posted on the weekend so everyone can spend the weekend reading and absorbing the material.

The package was prepared by my friend and Fellow Foreclosure Fighter Ryan Curtis.  For those of  you fighting to keep your homes and defend this country in the Middle and Northern parts of Florida, I encourage you to contact my friend Ryan using the contact information below.

That really is one of the things that makes this fight so rewarding is the level of professionalism and selfless sharing that occurs among the many dedicated attorneys that are fighting to protect homeowners and defend our courts all across the state.  Unlike so many other areas of the law where attorneys jealously protect their work so that other attorneys cannot benefit from the very real investment of time that is spent in researching and preparing the work, the attorneys that draft these motions and share the research that is posted on here share it generously so that the larger community benefits.

We’re all in this together and if we somehow manage to make it through this mess we will have many good people (attorneys and layperson included) to thank for contributing to the fight!

foreclosuredefense101

Ryan C. Curtis, Esq.
175 NW 138th Ter., Suite 100
Jonesville, Florida 32669
(352) 333-7207 Tel.
(352) 333-7208 Fax

The national media is now picking up on a major issue in foreclosure cases that we’ve been raising in this office for months now….the fact that most foreclosure judgments entered in this state are entered with no admissible evidence whatsoever.  Think about that.  The Florida Supreme Court estimates that there are over 500,000 foreclosure cases pending in Florida and I’m suggesting that most judgments should not be entered because they Plaintiff has not met its threshold burden of introducing the evidence it needs to prevail in its case.

Legal Analysis-  Something is Very Wrong In Foreclosure Court

The issue first came to my attention when a law student came to work for me and started questioning the basics of foreclosure law.  This young lawyer, Michael Fuino drafted a memo then questioned how judges accepted the affidavits stuck in all my foreclosure files.  Now most times, when you get memos or pleadings from a law student, they’re all over the place…citing the Constitution and the Magna Carta and all sorts of law and rules that have no place in a fast-paced law office.  But this memo was different.  It was concise and dead on point.  I attach it right here for all the world to read:

AFFIDAVIT Memo

We continued fleshing this issue out and from that small beginning, the memo was crafted into the motion that appears below:

affidavitMONTGOMERY

That memo and then that Motion helped develop the legal analysis that made it’s way into a courtroom transcript which appears below:

wasyliktranscript

And then finally, the national legal news media picks up the story, found here:

Law.com – New Strategy in Foreclosure

I sat in a courtroom yesterday and I watched foreclosure file after foreclosure file get churned through and judgment entered.  It pained me to watch this process.  I remain and will remain very much bothered by the physical sight of seeing those files, one right after another signed, foreclosure judgment granted.  There wasn’t even an attorney for the Plaintiff present.  No attorney to confirm the facts in the file or whether the Plaintiff still wanted judgment.  Granted there was no attorney or defendant there to oppose the garbage in the files, but what about the fact that there wasn’t even a Plaintiff’s attorney to support the file going forward.  The collective value of these judgments was millions of dollars and the law firms that filed these cases cannot even send a flunkie lawyer to push the file through?  Were the homeowners in a workout plan?  Were they in modification?  Were the assignments fraudulent?  Were there really original notes in the file?  Did the defendants receive service of process?  Who was the lender getting all these properties?  Who was really owed the money?

NONE OF THOSE QUESTIONS MATTERED IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT…..JUST KEEP CHURNING THOSE FORECLOSURES THROUGH.

I hope that all this will can be righted someday.  I hope that we will all take a deep breath and think about what we’re doing here.

Contempt-noun \kən-ˈtem(p)t\ – an open disrespect or willful disobedience of the authority of a court of law or legislative body

On Monday, August 30, 2010 in Manatee County, the Honorable Jannette Dunnigan will hold a hearing to determine whether to hold a foreclosure mill attorney guilty of contempt for the court.

I encourage everyone to read the Motion for Contempt Memo attached here . Anyone outside the foreclosure alternative universe would not believe the conduct detailed in the memo would be allowed to occur and what’s most disturbing is that it happens over and over and over and over again every single day in courtrooms all across the state.  I just don’t get it….I mean we’re all going to make errors from time to time, but the amount of taxpayer dollars that our clerks and judges spend waiting on phones for the foreclosure mill attorneys just makes me furious.  In fact,

The conduct demonstrates utter disregard and disrespect for the court, causes time and money for the other parties who have appeared in this case

The foreclosure mill attorneys have been invited to a little hearing to explain themselves and just to make sure they get the importance of attendance at this event…..the judge writes..

FAILURE TO ATTEND MAY RESULT IN SANCTIONS….INCLUDING INCARCERATION AS DEEMED APPROPRIATE

Theoretically at least, the court is open to the public.  I say theoretically because even though the Florida Constitution and Federal Constitution demand that courts be open to the public, courts across the state are ignoring such pesky little details and forbidding taxpayers and citizens from observing these proceedings.

I imagine this judge respects those little things called the Constitutions and I think it would be a powerful statement for normal people and the press to show up for this hearing.

I’ll be there…hope to see all of you!

And just for kicks here’s a recent Order from a judge who has apparently had it with the nonsense from the mills.

Enjoy the Order

silverorderfees

And again, the most striking thing about the Order is the same order could entered tens of thousands of times across this state……

The press continues to serve their vital function of reporting on the flawed foreclosure process that has infected our courthouses.

We all need to do our jobs and continue to fight these abuses, continue to educate our elected and senior judges and work with the press to make sure the tragic story that is foreclosure is reported across this country.  As attorneys we have a solemn ethical obligation to continue this fight.  Likewise, the unrepresented and pro se patriots have an important role to stand in courtrooms and remind our judges that normal, everyday non-lawyer citizens have just as much right to stand in courtrooms and make arguments. 

Our courtrooms are consecrated by the Constitution, we cannot allow these attacks to go unchecked.

In most media markets we have gotten beyond debates over homeowner’s inability to pay mortgages or lender’s unwillingness to modify the mortgage or to even properly staff phone banks so they can talk with their borrowers.  Sophisticated media and now the public at large are examining the flawed legal processes that have infected our courtrooms statewide.  The judgments entered and the foreclosure sales that occur during this period will long stand as testaments to the systemic failures of our judicial system that is bending to the howling cacophony of the legislature that is demanding that our courts do the bidding of corrupt businesses that brought this country to the brink of economic Armageddon.

I have faith that our judges will eventually stand up and oppose this systemic tyranny.

Until that time, we’ve got to rely upon the press to issue the clarion call!

Daily Business Review

The Wall Street Banks and Shady Subprime Lenders were engaged in a massive, government sponsored ponzi scheme.  No-one knows who actually lent the money when the subprime loans were were originated and no-one has any real idea who actually owns those loans today.  Rather than admit that the failed business practices of these lenders and the fraud they have been perpetrating among themselves and on the American people is a real problem, too many judges across this country have adopted a view that the only job is to grant foreclosure and throw their neighbors into the street.

The foreclosure mills are more than happy to fulfill these ill-conceived judicial objectives so they concoct the paper that, to the casual observer, would suggest the Plaintiff in a courtroom has the right to foreclose.  In the State of Florida, most of the major foreclosure mills are under a variety of investigations, most significantly from the Florida Attorney General’s Office who is examining the whole panoply of bad conduct engaged in by the firms.

At some point in time, society and observers will look back at this period of insanity and wonder why our judiciary allowed this conduct to play out in their courtrooms.  The false affidavits, the faulty assignments, the shifty plaintiffs, the foreclosure mill attorneys appearing by telephone, rocket dockets with no time or concern for all these issues.  These are dark days indeed for our court systems and for the judges who we elected and who took an oath to protect and defend us and the Constitution and laws that used to mean something in this country.  The foreclosure problem is not going away.  The bad loans and bad documentation and bad accounting systems won’t just fix themselves.  Judges can either send these criminals and their attorneys back to their dens of sin and force them to resolve these issues with borrowers or they can continue to reward the evil conduct that brought us to this place.

Until that happens, and perhaps because it is not happening with any sense of urgency, some advocate a more business savvy approach to the crisis…..

READ THE STORY AND WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

Not so long ago in this country breaking into another person’s home would clearly have been a crime.

When law enforcement cared.  When those we elected to protect us cared. When Judges cared.

But that was long ago.  Before the banks, foreclosure mills and Wall Street criminals took over this country and trampled on the rights of any soul who dared cross them or get in their way.  Today we live in a much different world.  The banks and their agents are emboldened.  They fear no government official.  They fear no judge.  They are restrained by no law.

I have begun collecting terrifying examples of bank terror and will continue to publish the examples.  For starters, I want each of you to read the lawsuit I’ve just filed.  Read carefully the allegations made in the lawsuit, but most importantly read the report from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department.  Read the findings of fact.  Two thugs broke into a home, moved property around, helped themselves to a beer.  The thugs returned and boldly told their victims they would return to terrorize again.  Two visitors to our country were terrified.  Thousands of dollars in property was stolen.  But the Sheriff’s office can seem to find a crime here.

The thing that terrifies me most about the incidents described in this lawsuit is the fact that I have logged dozens of phone calls to various levels of authority within the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.  I have spoken with street officers, detectives, supervisors, even internal affairs.  My calls have been ignored.  I’m not sure if I’ve gotten high enough up the chain of command, but I’m going to keep working, keep calling and keep filing lawsuits until this issue gets the attention that it deserves.

Pay attention to the facts in this case and be appalled, but sit tight and stay tuned because as bad as the facts in this case are, I’ve got worse cases and am preparing to file additional cases with even more grotesque facts. If law enforcement, particularly our elected Sheriff will no longer protect us in our homes, who can we count on to protect our families?  When one of these lender break ins results in physical harm either in Charlotte County or in some other county across this country, law enforcement cannot stand by and say they were unaware of this phenomena.

complaintfiledtotal

Please share your examples with me.  We cannot stand by and allow these fundamental violations of rights to occur.  I hope that press picks up on these stories and that our elected officials and judges will wake up serve those they took an oath to protect.