Posts Tagged ‘foreclosure attorneys’
Attorney Abandons Hundreds of Thousands of Cases Harming Clients And Costing Taxpayers Millions
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
The news is reporting that a Florida attorney just walked away from hundreds of thousands of cases that are pending in Florida courts. This action places hundreds of thousands of defendants in legal jeopardy and will cost our court system millions of dollars in additional work hours that are directly related to protecting the interests of all who are impacted.
Fanne/Freddie, who paid for most of this (with my money) and who should have been supervising, did nothing.
What’s most maddening about this is it happened back in April 2011, we’re all still paying the price for this and no one, no one has done anything at all the parties who are responsible for this…
Nothing from the feds (remember Fannie/Freddie paid millions in advance attorney’s fees and knew long ago about these problems.)
Nothing from the Florida Attorney General (what exactly is happening with all the investigations?)
Nothing at all from any of the many groups or agencies that could do something about this train wreck.
From Today’s Palm Beach Post:
A report issued Friday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General said an outside law firm Fannie Mae hired to investigate allegations of wrongdoing confirmed “unlawful” practices and stated that foreclosure attorneys were sacrificing accuracy for speed by filing false documents.
After learning of the attorney misconduct in 2006, Fannie Mae failed to make any improvements in its oversight of the firms.
Remember:
“The judges are the gatekeepers to jurisprudence, to the Florida Constitution, to access to the courts and to due process,” said attorney Chip Parker, a Jacksonville foreclosure defense attorney who was recently investigated by the Florida Bar for his critical comments about so-called “rocket dockets” during an interview with CNN. “It’s discouraging when it appears as if there is an exception being made for foreclosure cases.”
Systematic Violations of Servicemember Civil Relief Act Among All Lenders?
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
The world needs to know that real foreclosure defense in Florida especially began when passionate attorneys from Legal Aid offices across this state, stood up and started fighting for families. Jacksonville Legal Aid has always been on the forefront of the foreclosure fight, and the good work started by April Charney from Jax Legal Aid is still being done by the great lawyers that work for legal aid offices all across the state, like Lynn Drysdale, Glorida Epstein.
A huge issue that the committed foreclosure attorneys across this country are really digging into now, is the very real possibility that service member’s rights are being violated. Following is some information shared with me by April Charney…I encourage everyone to pay careful attention to this….but the bottom line is this….HUD regulations require all creditors to send SCRA notices to all loans in default….and no one that have talked to have ever seen one….
HAVE A LOOK AT THIS NEW MILITARY FORECLOSURE WEBSITE
The numbers of homes admitted to as wrongfully foreclosed in the recently announced foreclosure related military settlements seem really, really low considering the systemic failure of pre-foreclosure compliance with the notice required to be sent to all homeowners in this country within 45 days of a payment default under 12 USC 1701xC5 to advise them of their SCRA rights – to make sure there is a safety net to catch all the military at risk.
12 USC 1701x(C)(5) is titled: Notification of availability of homeownership counseling and provides, in pertinent part:
(A) Notification of availability of homeownership counseling.
(i) Requirement… the creditor of a loan shall provide notice…to…any eligible homeowner who fails to pay any amount by the date the amount is due under a home loan…
(ii) Content. Notification…shall…notify the homeowner…of the availability of any homeownership counseling offered by the creditor…
[and shall] (III) notify the homeowner…of the availability of homeownership counseling…
AND SHALL…(IV) notify the homeowner by a statement or notice, written in plain English by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Treasury, explaining the mortgage and foreclosure rights of servicemembers, and the dependents of such servicemembers, under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 501 et seq.), including the toll-free military one source number to call if servicemembers, or the dependents of such servicemembers, require further assistance.
(B) Deadline for notification. The notification…shall be made…
(i) in a manner approved by the Secretary; and
(ii) before the expiration of the 45-day period beginning on the date on which the [PAYMENT] failure occurs.
The above statute does not apply to FHA/Hud insured or other federally insured loan (VA, fmha, etc.) because they have their own administrative, statutory and regulatory requirements.
The above statute applies to every fannie, freddie or other conventional loan including every allegedly securitized loan.
There appears to be no compliance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act notification requirements before any foreclosure anywhere in this country. This failure is actionable to present equitable and contractual defenses to a foreclosure, judicial or nonjudicial; presents a failure of a contractual and statutory condition precedent to all foreclosures; is a breach of the mortgage contract rights of the borrower and is evidence of illegal and predatory consumer debt collection.
The federal regulations enforcing this notice requirement were issued in 2007 and are found online at:
and…8% of the (600 of 7500 est) persons in f/c in Sarasota, Fl “live” near Plano, Texas, Jax, Fl and Ft. Mill, SC where there are numerous military bases and/or military contractors (also get SCRA rights)…makes you wonder what the numbers look like around the nation…
WHERE THE OWNERS LIVE…Where the people who own Sarasota County foreclosed properties live:
Fort Mill, S.C.4%
Jacksonville2%
Plano, Texas2%
Wall Street Journal A Tale of Two Foreclosure Stories—Ut OOOOOOh
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
I want you to read two stories that ran in the Wall Street Journal. The first ran in October 2010. That story asserted that a small group of pescky foreclosure attorneys were stirring up a ruckus about a bunch of technicalities in foreclosure that caused confusion and turmoil in the housing market…(those damn consumer lawyers)
“There is a movement afoot by [state attorneys general] and private lawyers to use technical problems to avoid foreclosures where the borrower is in default and the foreclosure is in all respects substantively appropriate. These are lawyers where the best job they can do for their clients is to keep them in their houses without paying the mortgage.”
and
GMAC tried to sanction the lawyer on grounds he had embarrassed its employees, a maneuver that could have kept him from using the Stephan deposition as evidence. The motion was denied by Maine’s Ninth District state court, which also ruled, late last month, that GMAC had submitted the Stephan affidavits “in bad faith.” The court ordered GMAC to pay Mr. Cox $27,000, a sum it said he might have earned for his legal work if he hadn’t been working pro bono.
Damn those attorneys for actually pointing out fraud and improper practices in banking practices, but surely this is all just paperwork snafu right and we’ll just get right on with things, right?
Lenders say paperwork problems can easily be fixed, and foreclosures can proceed. “The homeowner might get to live in the house for a few more months free.
But most importantly, read today’s article in the Wall Street Journal…so much for for a tiny little frackas….this whole foreclosure thing is a…hurdle….no that’s not quite the right word….how ’bout we tell the truth and come to grips with reality….it’s a full blown catastrophe…..
Read the story, but critically, read the comments to the story…and make sure to leave your own…..
SUPER super BOMBSHELL- THE COURT RESPONDS TO THE ACLU LAWSUIT!
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
Here it is Amerika, eat it up….”your” court responds to what is perhaps the most important lawsuit that has been filed in this state in a generation….and the response is…..
WE DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR STINKING LAWS.
WE DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS.
WE DON’T RESPOND TO YOUR CONCERNS.
Read the response people…WOW.
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? WHERE IS THE FURY? WHERE IS THE PRESS?
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
Whenever anyone’s substantive rights are being destroyed, we all need to be concerned, very concerned. The stories below present, in terrifying detail, a phenomena that is occurring all across this state. Basic, fundamental and key Constitutional Rights are being trampled upon. Forget for just a moment about the “minor” violations that are occurring in foreclosure courtrooms and how this represents such an abdication of the sacred oath taken by our judges to uphold the law and protect and defend the Constitution.
One of the key principles of our entire system of government is that it is open for full inspection at all times and that the rowdy mob that is the American people are not just able to participate in the government….they are absolutely required to participate in their government. Most importantly, all courtrooms must be free, open and accessible to the people. This is so whether the court is hearing small claims cases, death penalty cases or even foreclosure cases. The fact that judges now feel emboldened to ignore the Constitution so that they can rush along doing the important job of serving the banks and foreclosure mills (Yes, even the mills that are investigation by the Florida Attorney General) is a terrifying testament to a fundamental breakdown in our system of government.
This cannot be allowed to continue. Read the excerpts below and understand that once major violations of Constitutional rights like the right to open access are permitted, judges will not just wake up of their own volition and honoring those rights again…..they will get comfortable in closed courtrooms and that’s the way it will stay…..
Monday Aug 23, 2010. Court room 4A Palm Beach County Courthouse. I was with a friend who had a hearing at 9am. We were greeted by the Floor Receptionist and told we had to wait for our team……Now they are calling them teams…….the Plaintiff and the Defendant……..my friend was Pro Se. We still had to wait for the Plaintiff to arrive……She was 20 minutes late………there was an armed guard outside the door of Court room 4A. As we approached to enter, with our team, I was asked if I was party to the hearing I said I was with my friend, the next best friend, and observing , the guard told me I could not go in. I asked why, she said because I was not a party to the case, I said I have never been refused entrance before, and the guard said I could not go in. I asked if she was denying the public the right to enter the courtroom and she told me I would have to wait outside…….that there was not enough room…….I waited outside for 10-15 minutes made a couple of phone calls and then she said I could go in…….There were plenty of seats when I went in…….So I was rather concerned that I was denied access to our public court rooms. But you feel helpless up against them….I felt like my rights were being violated……
“On 8/30, I had a Summary Judgment Foreclosure hearing on Palm Beach County’s “Rocket Docket”. The judge spoke for 14 minutes to the crowd, of mostly pro se defendants, about how they should just agree to the summary judgment and the plaintiffs, (whose attorneys (Shapiro & Fishman had a dedicated courtroom and to whom he referred to as “my attorneys”) would be gracious (Ha!) enough to allow them to stay in their homes for 120 days if needed (even though the statute says he only has to give them 30). When it came to hearing arguments which were fully briefed and provided to the court (pursuant to the instructions of the Divisions head judge) he only allowed 30-60 seconds for argument, failed to read any of the papers, failed to review the plaintiff’s foreclosure package,flatly ignored the Affidavit filed in Opposition, ignored my plea for a trial, signed the judgment and dismissed me. I never was permitted to even read the proposed judgment or to examine the “newly discovered” allonge which Shapiro’s counsel said I had no right to see. Thank God I had a court reporter!”
I want to know why attorneys who practice in these courtrooms are allowing this to occur. I want to know why the press (national and regional) are not covering this issue. Shame on both groups for allowing this unprecedented attack on our fundamental rights to continue. Why are defense attorneys allowing this to occur? Why are you not taking these pro se and observers by your side and demanding that they be permitted into THE COURTROOMS THAT THEY PAID FOR, THAT THEY OWN, THAT OUR FOREFATHERS SHED BLOOD TO KEEP OPEN? That Sheriff only has a gun and that judge has no authority when he seeks to exercise it in a manner so repugnant to the Constitution.
WHY ARE ATTORNEYS AND PRESS NOT STANDING UP TO FIGHT THIS TYRANNY?
HOT OFF!!!- THE PRESS PICKS UP ON THE FLAWED FORECLOSURE PROCESS
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
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!
