Matt Weidner – Fighting For The American People

Posts Tagged ‘FAST FOOD FORECLOSURE’

You’ve got to hand it to the South Florida Press, they are doing their job of covering the real horror stories behind the foreclosure crisis.  Attached below is a link to today’s article that appears.  Read what one attorney is quoted as saying about the fast food foreclosure “justice” handed out on the docket:

Daily Business Review

“I’m loving that, taking all these stale cases,” he said, then complimented Rosinek. “He was just jammin’. He was taking all these old cases and just ruling on it. He was getting stuff done, and it was great.”

The far more important question to be asked is why are the “stale” cases hanging around?  This attorney represents homeowner’s associations.  What HOA’s, judges, press and activists need to be focusing in on is why these cases have not progressed even when the defendants have not filed one single piece of paper.  I firmly believe that a close examination of these cases will reveal substantive problems, fraud and errors which will prevent these cases from ever progressing to Final Judgment.

We should all be working with our courts, our clerks and with our Circuits Chief Judges to explore ways to clear the foreclosure backlog.  As defense attorneys and defenders of the integrity of the court process, we cannot just sit back and scream about the problems with the system without proposing real world solutions.  To that end, I recommend we all reach out to our Chief Judge and clerks and volunteer to examine foreclosure files.  We need to remind our judges that while the legislature may have demanded that courts dispose of 62% of cases statewide by July 2011, how they are disposed of remains in the sound discretion of the courts.  It would be far more responsible in the long run to focus on dismissing the “stale” and “stalled” cases than it is to focus on disposing of them through Summary Judgment. Moreover, if our courts want to retain some semblance of balance, fairness and equity, our judges need to evenly and fairly apply the Rules of Civil Procedure and focus at least as much attention on disposing of cases through dismissal as they are on disposing them through Summary Judgment.

Our courts can never hit the 62% target through Summary Judgment alone, nor should they.  The impact on our neighborhoods and associations would be devastating.  Instead, 1) dismiss all cases filed after February 11, 2010 that have not been verified; 2) dismiss all cases that have received notice for lack of prosecution; 3) dismiss all cases that have notice for lack of service; 3) dismiss all cases for which the plaintiff has not been properly identified such that a title can be issued to that Plaintiff.

That’s the only way to come close to meeting the 62% target.  I’m calling on attorneys for condo and homeowners associations to examine these policies then join the efforts to push for them.

We’re all acutely aware that there is a foreclosure crisis across this country and in the State of Florida in particular.  It has been widely reported that there are 33,000 active foreclosure cases pending in Pinellas County, Florida.  I actually think the number of foreclosures that could be filed would be closer to double or triple that number if the banks and lenders filed foreclosures on all the homes in Pinellas County that were sixty or ninety days behind in payment…but suffice it to say the 33,000 number far understates the magnitude of the economic troubles in Pinellas County alone…and the troubles are even greater elsewhere.

So what if every lawyer and homeowner and advocate that was fighting cases in Pinellas County just gave up.  Threw in the towel and said to the banks….YOU CAN HAVE THIS STINKING HOME.  I can’t afford the insurance, taxes, repairs.  I’ve lost my job so I couldn’t even really pay half the mortgage that currently exists on the property.  If the AC goes or the roof blows off, I don’t have the money to pay it, so I tell you what…I can rent a comparable house or apartment for much less that the best and most unheard of modification would ever provide.

Forget about who really owns the mortgage or who has a right to foreclose or who is owed the debt or what non-registered trust or foreign corporation claims the right to own the home….anyone come and get it…What would become of the 33,000 homes that have now reverted back to the shadowy entities that are now trying to take the homes?  Who would purchase them?  Who could qualify for the mortgage?  Who would move in and take care of the grass and fix the problems?

The answer to the question is, there are not 33,000 people in Pinellas County that could step in and purchase these properties….there’s probably not even half that.  It will be very interesting to see what becomes of all the properties that are reverting back to banks in the new  Rocket Docket procedures that have now been implemented.  If there are 300 summary judgment hearings held a week in Pinellas County….well even if every one of them isn’t granted that’s still hundreds of homes reverting back to the lenders when the foreclosure sales start happening 30-90 days from now.

Forget about the abuse of court process, the fraud, the mistakes the faulty titles that this mess of a foreclosure crisis has dumped in our courtrooms….just think about the very real and practical impact of all this faulty inventory flooding the real estate marketplace….

WHAT’S THE POINT OF ALL THIS FAST FOOD FORECLOSURE ANYWAY?