Matt Weidner – Fighting For The American People

Posts Tagged ‘Foreclosure Cases Dismissed’

I have had an extraordinary number of my foreclosure cases dismissed in the last year.  The number is frankly staggering.  The foreclosure mills started dismissing or dropping them in January 2011 and they just keep on dismissing them right up until today.  This fact is a recognition of what I’ve been saying all along that their cases are so fatally flawed that dismissal is the only responsible and legally appropriate thing for the to do.

The foreclosure files currently pending in courtrooms all across this state are a mess of improper legal pleadings and sometimes fraudulent and misrepresented facts.  The more the banksters try to cover up and avoid their lies and the problems they’ve caused themselves the worse things get.  And so the only way out, the only responsible, ethical, proper thing to do is dismiss the cases.  Most are doing this, but increasingly some cases are going to trial.  Now I recently wrote that there are very few appellate decisions in foreclosure that come from trial and I wondered why this was  the case. I recognize now a big part of the reason…..

A “win” for a defendant in a foreclosure trial is not a “win” at all.

That’s right, in yet another example of the absolute unfairness and proof that there are two sets of laws, one for those with money and power and one for all the rest of us, I have discovered that even if we have a trial in a foreclosure case and even if we “win” that foreclosure case, all the Plaintiff has to do is turn around and refile the case the very next day.  It’s just maddening and entirely mind boggling and totally frustrating.  We can work for months to prove up the banksters and their fraud and the lies and the incompetence and the crimes and all they’ve got to do is shrug their shoulders, dust themselves off and start all over again.  I’m afraid  part of this analysis will come into play in the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in the pending Pino case.

But back to the “FREE HOUSE” analysis here on the ground.  Recently a transcript of a foreclosure trial hit the blogosphere. (You really must read it here.) No matter what the problems on the bank side, no matter how many errors or flaws or questionable documents or facts, the court just could not fathom finding for the Defendant in the case because the court absolutely could not stomach giving the defendant a ‘FREE HOUSE”.

Well, I have to wonder, how would that judge’s analysis have changed if the defense attorney had merely explained to the judge that there is no free house, that there is no windfall for the consumer, that the banks can get away with whatever they want and then just turn around and call ‘DO OVER’ whenever they want?  I should think this would make the judge a whole lot less concerned about issuing a verdict for the defense….after all, there is no real “harm”….harm in the sense that the banks will suffer no real consequence for their improper actions.

This understanding must make it’s way all across this state’s court system.  We must all understand that the only way to get chopping through this heavy thicket of a quagmire of a mess of a garbage dump that is most of the pending foreclosures is to chop through all the garbage, throw all the cases into the wood chipper and do them over, correctly.

Read the attached case carefully and think about the larger implications…..I see this as the ultimate response to the “FREE HOUSE” argument, and a very powerful tool for our judges.  As much as I hate the opinion and think that it is very wrong, it allows our judges the freedom to execute good judicial discretion without the ‘NUCLEAR’ option of the dreaded, ‘FREE HOUSE’!

Now, the problem with the opinion is it tosses key legal principles of Res Judicata and Double Jeopardy completely out the window, but hey, we’re all well aware that there are a second set of rules for the banks anyway…..right?

Singleton+v.+Greymar+Associates,+882+So

We all need to be doing our part to help our courts fulfill  the directives to get this foreclosure docket moving and get 62% of the cases concluded.  The problem we have right now is all of the attention seems to be focused on reaching that 62% goal by granting Summary Judgment.  Given the current state of affairs of document chaos that exists in most courts, I believe granting Summary Judgment is not the responsible path to achieve this goal.

First, I believe the foreclosure process, as it is currently being implemented, is so fraught with questionable practice that continued entry of these judgments in many cases is not appropriate from a procedural, evidentiary and technical basis.   Second, even if an individual case were ripe for entry of Summary Judgment in so many cases (and certainly on a cumulative basis), it would serve no useful economic purpose to grant Summary Judgment.  That home is far better off with the current resident occupying it and maintaining it than if foreclosure were concluded.  Finally, I’m convinced that there are going to be a significant number of Summary Judgments entered during this period that should not be entered (and that the Plaintiffs do not want entered) because the Defendants are in formal work out arrangements with their lender.  I am concerned that foreclosure sales will be scheduled and Certificates of Title issued before anyone realizes that the entry of Summary Judgment was not appropriate given the facts.

The Real Cause of the Foreclosure Backlog

The far more compelling issues of foreclosure backlog are those files have stalled or been abandoned by the Plaintiffs, either from neglect or because they cannot tie the evidentiary pieces together that are necessary to make a prima facia case for foreclosure.  I am convinced that if our clerks culled the docket and researched the files, they could far more quickly (and more fairly) achieve the 62% reduction goal by dismissing cases.  In addition to the equitable principles involved, there are important legal and appellate principles involved which argue much more strongly in favor of dismissing the cases and allowing the Plaintiffs to proceed after they have gotten their documentary house in order and confirmed that the file really is ready for foreclosure or summary judgment.

I’ve just finished going through every file in my office and am drafting motions that will help to effectuate these goals….I share with you and encourage you all to examine your files for similar facts and legal issues:

HAMERSMA – Mt to Effecuate Master Order

HAMERSMA – Cases for Master Order