Matt Weidner – Fighting For The American People

Posts Tagged ‘florida default law group’

A real area of systemic abuse in the foreclosure court are overcharges for services that are routinely and regularly added into foreclosure final judgments.

This is another one of the profoundly serious issues that we’ve been raising for some time and now judges across the state are paying attention to this issue.

If just a few hundred dollars are added into each of the 69,000 foreclosure judgments that have been disposed of in this state in the last several months, just think of how much money we’re talking about…..and I believe the number overcharged is routinely thousands of dollars more and it affects hundreds of thousands of dollars in judgments…..NOW WE’RE TALKING ABOUT REAL MONEY THAT’S BEEN ROBBED….. Talk about defendants being robbed of due process, talk about a violation of fundamental rights, talk about a massive amount of additional money being stolen….stolen…cheated…stolen….

“I don’t want to throw anybody in jail, but I’m getting really angry, and I’m not going to tolerate it anymore,” Gardner said. “I want some answers. This stuff isn’t getting through on my watch.”

At least two of the cases Gardner flagged involve Florida Default Law Group in Tampa, which is under state investigation.

Consider this case.

The process server, Firefly Legal, served two named defendants in Land O’ Lakes in August 2009. The invoice reflects that both defendants were served, but it also included charges for two unknown spouses and for two unknown tenants, even though none of those four people were found, according to court documents.  Three days later, the invoice shows, the process server attempted to serve the main defendants and unknown spouses again – this time in Indiana.

The total bill was $1,633.50. Gardner says a reasonable fee for this case would be $175.

TAMPA TRIBUNE ARTICLE

The superstars at Ice Legal have done it again with a fascinating deposition of the managing attorney of a foreclosure mill.  Forget about a Grisham novel, forget about the Wall Street Journal, if you really want to know what’s going on behind the scenes at the foreclosure mills.  If you really want to know the nuts and bolts of how the banks are conspiring against the American people to suck the equity, finances and lifeblood of the American people and the American economy….read the depositions below….

THE ATTORNEYS, ADVOCATES AND PRESS WHO ARE PUSHING THESE ISSUES ARE THE PAUL REVERES AND PATRIOTS IN A CIVIL WAR THAT IS RAGING IN THIS COUNTRY.

ICE LEGAL AND ALL THE OTHER ATTORNEYS WHO ARE IN THE TRENCHES BATTLING THE BANKS ARE THE MARINES, THE NAVY SEALS, THE RECON, THE INFANTRY THIS IS A WAR FOR THE HEART AND SOUL OF THIS COUNTRY.  IF WE DON’T WIN THIS WAR OUR COUNTRY IS LOST.

ATTORNEYS HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO STAND UP AND SHOW OUR COUNTRY JUST WHAT THIS SACRED AND HONORED PROFESSION THAT IS THE PRACTICE OF LAW IS ALL ABOUT.

OUR FOUNDING FOREFATHERS CONTEMPLATED THAT ATTORNEYS AND THE PRESS WOULD REMAIN EMPOWERED TO PROTECT THE REST OF THE COUNTRY FROM THE BULLIES AND THE UNFETTERED, UNRESTRAINED, UNCHECKED POWER THE BANKS AND THE BULLIES NOW HAVE.

WHAT WILL BECOME OF OUR COUNTRY IF THE SMALL BAND OF CONSUMER ATTORNEYS JUST WENT AWAY

(OR WERE CRUSHED BY THE BULLIES IN BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT?)

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Deposition-of-Hollan-Fintel-From-Florida-Default-Law-Group

The foreclosure fiasco brewing up in the cauldrons of Florida’s courtrooms has many parties that can take the blame for catastrophic mess that will continue to unfold.  The lying, cheating, conning lenders and foreclosure mills are obviously the real wrongdoers here, but they could not pull this off on their own.  Our courts, court administrators and judges are next on the list for allowing this flawed and corrupted system to bubble and boil and spew out of control.  Rather than demand that the sloppy and sometimes outright fraudulent conduct stop, our courts have allowed it to perpetuate by failing to sanction the improper conduct that passes across the bench every day.  The legislature, rather than grasp the problem and give our courts the tools and resources to do the job just turned the heat up on this bubbling brew of badness and has demanded that this bad work be done faster.  Unfortunately, our courts have blindly and irresponsibly accepted that call.

The results of all this insanity are coming back to haunt us all much quicker than anyone could have expected…and it will only get worse.  Now that the press has taken hold of this issue, the snakes and demons just cannot be shoved back into Pandora’s Box.  This isn’t just blog talk…it’s national news and the front page of our excellent local and regional newspapers who really have caught the significance of all of this.

Read the Excellent Tampa Tribune Article Here

The stunning reports from across the state that Florida Default Law Group was “withdrawing” affidavits that were submitted in foreclosure cases signed by Jeffrey Stephan are just mind blowing.  I’ve posted two depositions below.  What we’re all trying to figure out is just what this all means.  The Rule of Professional Conduct cited by the law firm as the basis for withdrawing the affidavits is very serious and citing it has profound consequences.  Here is the rule:

RULE 4-3.3 CANDOR TOWARD THE TRIBUNAL

(a) False Evidence; Duty to Disclose. A lawyer shall not knowingly:

(1) make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer;

(2) fail to disclose a material fact to a tribunal when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by the client;

(3) fail to disclose to the tribunal legal authority in the controlling jurisdiction known to the lawyer to be directly adverse to the position of the client and not disclosed by opposing counsel; or

(4) offer evidence that the lawyer knows to be false. A lawyer may not offer testimony that the lawyer knows to be false in the form of a narrative unless so ordered by the tribunal. If a lawyer, the lawyer’s client, or a witness called by the lawyer has offered material evidence and the lawyer comes to know of its falsity, the lawyer shall take reasonable remedial measures including, if necessary, disclosure to the tribunal. A lawyer may refuse to offer evidence that the lawyer reasonably believes is false.

(b) Criminal or Fraudulent Conduct. A lawyer who represents a client in an adjudicative proceeding and who knows that a person intends to engage, is engaging, or has engaged in criminal or fraudulent conduct related to the proceeding shall take reasonable remedial measures, including, if necessary, disclosure to the tribunal.

(c) Ex Parte Proceedings. In an ex parte proceeding a lawyer shall inform the tribunal of all material facts known to the lawyer that will enable the tribunal to make an informed decision, whether or not the facts are adverse.

(d) Extent of Lawyer’s Duties. The duties stated in this rule continue beyond the conclusion of the proceeding and apply even if compliance requires disclosure of information otherwise protected by rule 4-1.6.

By filing these notices across the state the foreclosure mills have opened up a Pandora’s box big enough to fit every single foreclosure courtroom in the State of Florida, perhaps even the country.  Just what is the magnitude of these disclosures?  How many were sent out?  Are the notices limited to Jeffrey Stephan?  To GMAC?  To just this law firm? Finding out the answers to these important questions should keep this nation’s best and brightest reporters and journalists busy for quite some time.  Whatever the answers to those questions, the implications are so profound.

I have been saying for months now, and I will state again for the record that,

“IN THE VAST MAJORITY OF FORECLOSURE CASES, THERE IS NOT A SINGLE PIECE OF CREDIBLE, ADMISSABLE EVIDENCE UPON WHICH A COURT SHOULD RELY TO GRANT SUMMARY JUDGMENT”

Let me add to that statement the following:

“THERE ARE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FORECLOSURE JUDGMENTS AND TITLES TO FORECLOSED PROPERTIES THAT ARE VOID OR VOIDABLE AND WILL BE CHALLENGED AND TOSSED OUT WHEN THE GLARING ERRORS THAT HAVE BEEN COMMITTED ARE PURSUED AFTER THE FACT.”

And the following:

“IF THE FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL CONTINUES TO AGGRESSIVELY PURSUE ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD AND DECEPTIVE PRACTICES IN FORECLOSURE CASES, THE RESULTS WILL BE A BROAD INDICTMENT OF THE FAILURES OF FLORIDA’S ENTIRE COURT SYSTEM.”

I am so profoundly disappointed that the charges that will come will not come because our judges stood up and put an end to it all.  They will not come because the Florida Bar took a leadership role and took a stand to protect consumers and they will not come because law enforcement, legislators or consumer protection agencies and official stepped in.  They will come because the perpetrators and purveyors of this flawed system turned on themselves.

But most importantly, it will come because our press is doing their vital and essential function of raising the alarm bells and sounding the alarm of a crisis that is unfolding that affects us all.

GOD BLESS OUR FOREFATHERS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF A FREE PRESS!

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Over the last week, I’ve received a very interesting pleading from the attorneys at Florida Default Law Group.  They are attempting to withdraw affidavits that have been submitted in cases by “Jeffrey Stephans”.  God only knows why they are taking this unprecedented step of trying to revoke or withdraw evidence that has been submitted in a court case, but these questions will be subject for interrogatories and depositions over the months to come.

Depending on the explanation given we will have to question whether Summary Judgments already entered based on those “withdrawn” affidavits should be set aside.  Whatever the explanation given, no further Summary Judgments should be entered in cases where affidavits of Jeffrey Stephans have been filed.  A real question has to be asked about whether these affidavits should just be permitted to be withdrawn with no consequence….

Keep on the lookout for these notices and look out for more information about this most interesting development and please share your intel with me!

Thanks to Ice Legal for originally sharing the deposition of Jeffrey Stephan.  One can only think that Ice’s good work has something to do with this new development.  Read Stephan’s depositions below:

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The BP Oil spill is a tragedy of epic proportions and, according to a variety of credible sources, the tragedy was a result of known and preventable failures by BP.  There is also a growing body of evidence, again from credible sources, reporting that the cleanup efforts have been delayed and solutions denied for a variety of political considerations and just plain old incompetence….(See Wall Street Journal article here.)

Bottom line is regulations should have been in place and enforced to prevent it from happening, BIG OIL should have been required to practice for such failures and equipment should have been in place to clean up the damage….but none of this was done.  Skimming ships in use and available all around the world have been senselessly denied access to the Gulf of Mexico due to archaic law, the Jones Act, that Obama and the feds have refused to waive.

So what’s this got to do with foreclosures?  Well, there is more than enough evidence out there that widespread fraud and fundamental breakdowns created the mortgage madness that led to the surge in new mortgages in 200-2006.  These are the mortgages that have brought us to the Great Foreclosure Crisis we now find ourselves in. The same frauds and breakdown in fundamental systems has now infected our court systems but many of our elected circuit court judges refuse to recognize the long-term consequences of allowing this unprecedented infection of fraud and abuse of their courts to continue.  Circuit court judges must stop and recognize that they cannot allow fraud and abuse of court rules and laws to continue unchecked.

Foreclosure defense attorneys and advocates need to continue to document the fraud and abuses that are occurring in courthouses all across the country…I particularly applaud the websites Foreclosure Hamlet and 4ClosureFraud.com for the good work they’re doing.  We must all keep shining bright spotlights on the frauds and abuses being perpetrated by the foreclosure mills….keep looking out for examples of Florida Default Law and the Law Offices of David J. Stern (wait strike that, I mean David J. Stern Enterprises and it’s blank check holding company, Chardan 2008)

While we’re all focusing on the frankly small number of homes that are making it to sales on the courthouse steps there are a variety of very troubling issues that we all need to be focusing on:

Exparte Substitutions of Party Plaintiff- The rules that permit a party to be substituted are being abused and employed to perpetuate dramatic frauds on the court…fight them every time you see them.

Assignments of Bid- After final judgment, the judgment is “assigned” to another party…there are just too many of these occurring.  The numbers suggest something improper is occuring.

Certificates of Title- We all need to watch to see if the name the Certificate of Title is being issued to is in the name of the Plaintiff.  I have the sense that these are being “slipped” in.

Failure of Capacity- There are far too many cases being pursued by Plaintiffs that either lost the capacity or authority to pursue somewhere along the way or who never had it from the outset of litigation.

Cases that Stall or Die- I am in the middle of researching the surprisingly high number of foreclosure cases that were filed in 2008 and 2009 that were filed and that just did not proceed.  Many of these cases were not defended in any way.  Judges and some parties believe that the homeowners are in modification, but in the majority of cases I’ve found, no modification or deal is in place.    The homeowner continues to live in the home with no payment and no communication from any debt collector, whether phantom or real.  Did the law firm or party that filed the case ever have any business filing that case?

Our elected circuit court judges need to be carefully considering all of this and especially the new senior judges that are presiding over Rocket Dockets.  We just cannot sit aside and allow all this to continue.  I have faith that our senior judges, who are not under the same improper pressures as our elected judges, will quickly become incensed by the practices we see every day and that they will push back against what they see. Having said that, it is our job to educate them.  Let’s make sure elected judges and senior judges are reminded that a fundamental and key element of our system of government is separation of powers.  They should not continue to be pressured or bullied by the legislative branch to throw away laws, ethics and rules in a mad rush to plow through this crisis.

JUDGES- PUSH BACK AGAINST THIS MADNESS!