Matt Weidner – Fighting With The American People

Posts Tagged ‘foreclosure defense attorneys’

Years ago a dedicated small group of passionately committed public service attorneys got together and began defending homeowners who were in foreclosure.  During those early years, America’s economy was “booming”, most people appeared to be doing well and the people impacted by foreclosure were legal aid clients at the bottom of the economic and social ladder.

In 2007-2010, the universe of homeowners who were impacted by foreclosure expanded exponentially as the entire American economy collapsed.  The clients impacted by foreclosure were no longer just the clients of the dedicated legal aid attorneys, they were middle class Americans all across this country.  These middle class clients began seeking out the advice of private attorneys.  Building upon the foundation laid by legal aid, private attorneys all across this country began directing the kind of high-level legal analysis at foreclosure cases that was usually reserved for tall building lawyers with unlimited legal budgets.

The most extraordinary work that has been done by foreclosure defense attorneys all across this country is all the more extraordinary because it represents the selfless collaboration of attorneys who put the interests of the larger public above their own personal interests.  They worked together, sharing and supporting, standing up for one another and for each other’s clients.  The work done in the area of foreclosure defense represents the very highest values of the practice of law….not the much maligned version of the law, but the true heart and soul of the practice…..professionals who took an oath to serve their clients and protect their communities.  What has been the cumulative impact of all this?  Read below:

The judicial state of Florida, where the housing market is no better, has seen a much greater drop-off in filings over the past year, down 62%. It now has the eighth highest foreclosure rate, of one filing for every 461 households. A year ago, it was in the top four…

How many millions of Floridians were served by the work of these committed attorneys?  How many families stayed together and did not suffer the trauma of forced displacement?  How many children stayed safe in their homes because attorneys stood together and fought for their rights?

Now consider for a moment what would have happened if attorneys failed to answer the call.  If attorneys put the almighty billable hour before the far more important issues like the integrity of our court system or due process.  If attorneys turned away clients because they couldn’t afford the typical up front retainer fees.  If attorneys failed to fight for the rights of the poor and unfortunate.

Read more and consider the full picture….

CNN MONEY

The financial system in the United States is in ruin.  We exist today in a sort of extended, suspended animation.  Real wages, i.e. the actual money that Americans put in their pocket after taxes and other costs do not come close to supporting the lifestyle we’ve all become accustomed to.  We cannot afford the cars, the clothes, the home, the food so they’re all purchased on credit.  The credit soaks up more and more of the real wage so at the end of the month there really is nothing left.  And yet, because somewhere between 60%-70% of our entire economy is based on consumer spending, we all need to continue spending so that the rest of us continue to have the jobs that are predicated on that consumer spending.  Great system, huh?

Now if you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you know I’m the strongest supporter of our military.  I will consult with any active duty military for free and I have made a commitment to make sure that no member of our military in Florida has to face foreclosure without an experienced foreclosure defense attorney on their side.

With my bona fides firmly in place it is critically important that all of America understand just how out of whack our military spending is when compared to the rest of the world.  Now one thing to keep in mind with military spending is that a huge percentage of the total spending goes toward actual wages or payroll that becomes part of the domestic product and even the spending on weapons systems and gear becomes part of the domestic economy, but the much bigger question is,

What if we had focused our military spending priorities on healthcare or education or anything else?

Now take a look at the graph below and just let it soak in.  Do you feel real safe in this country?  I feel safe in some respects, but I felt a whole lot safer in Costa Rica, a country with no standing army.  Even though they have no standing army, I’m fairly certain Costa Ricans are not too vulnerable to a terrorist attack….

After you gaze upon the graphic, go onto Wikipedia and explore all aspects of our military spending policies….

Forget about what partisan like myself and other foreclosure defense attorneys say.  Ignore our honest, heartfelt pleas that we’re not just trying to defend the cases for our clients…we’re also trying to protect our courts and protect our system of private property ownership that has existed for 400 years. Ignore the representations that we have been trying to protect our land title system and our warning cries that MERS was destroying private property ownership in this country.

Listen to what the National Association of Land Title Examiners and Abstractors has to say:

NALTEA

The tragedies in Florida’s Foreclosure courts are playing out in newspapers headlines all across the country.  The headlines describe sordid bank practices and the abuses of the foreclosure mills that have been hired by the banks.  Their conduct has led to moratoriums on foreclosures. The lender clients and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac have fired several foreclosure mills.  Federal bankruptcy court judges and increasingly appellate court judges across this country are slamming the banks and their attorneys across the country.  Congress has gotten in on the firestorm, holding hearings which elicited dramatic admissions of gross wrongdoing on the part of most of the Plaintiffs that are bulldozing their way through courtrooms and dead into the living rooms all across America.

This is a civil war raging across America.  And it is a war of unprecedented inequities.  A pitifully small band of committed attorneys and courageous activists—a rag tag band of Freedom Fighters–stood up and continue to stand up every day against they tyranny of the most powerful and well-funded interests in the world…..the banks, their lobbyists, and lawmakers and law enforcers at the local, state and even international levels.

For too long, our “leaders” acquiesced to the abuses of the banks, their lawyers and the jackbooted thugs they have fanned out all across this country.  They might wait until they have a court order to kick down your door and throw your property onto the street.  They might wait for a court order before they announce to your neighbors that the bank owns your home and you have abandoned your property so they’re taking it.  The Sheriff might stand there, slapping his billy club and providing protection while the jack booted thugs continue with their ransacking and looting of your life’s possessions. This happens all across this country every single day and nothing at all happens to these banks and their criminal henchmen.

The banks might take the home of a soldier in the United States Military, sell his home while he’s serving abroad in harm’s way, throwing his wife and children into the streets.  They might engage in a pattern and practice of totally ignoring the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and refuse to provide any notice to our soldiers so that they could engage in the fight to save their home. What’s worse for that soldier, battling the bullets or battling to keep a roof over the head of his wife and children?  At least the soldier has notice that the bullets are coming.

These are just a few of the problems, rattled off right off the top of my head.  But back to the rag tag group of Freedom Fighters.  The truly disturbing thing about all of this is the fact that all these stories are developing from the work of a tiny group of fighters.  The New Jersey Supreme Court estimates that some 94% of foreclosure cases are not defended by an attorney.  Consumers are beaten down, decimated, destroyed.  Wrecked by  an economy that has left them behind and abandoned by a country that sold its soul to the unholy criminal cartels of Wall Street, banks and big business.

As it was in the beginning it is now until the end, “our” courts, “our” judges remain our only hope.  But there really is not much hope of a level playing field if the soldiers never get the chance to take the field.  This sad fact is recognized in at least one state….

Citing the 1963 ruling by the Supreme Court that state courts are required by the Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases to defendants who cannot afford their own, Judge Lippman said this was the right moment to extend that provision.

“Today it is an equally obvious truth that people in civil cases dealing with the necessities of life can’t get a fair day in court without a lawyer,” he said.

Read New York Times Article Here

It’s not just the opinion of foreclosure defense attorneys and advocates….and still some ask, “Is the defense of foreclosure ethical?”

WASHINGTON – An Obama administration official says a preliminary investigation into the foreclosure process has found inexcusable breakdowns in the basic controls mortgage lenders should have been using.

Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr said Tuesday that a foreclosure task force composed of 11 federal agencies had found serious problems in the way home foreclosures were being handled.

Barr told a new financial stability council headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that the task force hoped to have a set of recommended improvements ready by late January.

Barr said the goal of the task force was to hold banks accountable for fixing the problems that have been found and making sure that individuals who have been harmed are given a way to seek redress.

Bar said the investigation had found “widespread and, in our judgment, inexcusable breakdowns in basic controls. The problems must be fixed.”

Barr was delivered his comments before the Financial Stability Oversight Council. The group of top federal officials including Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was holding its second meeting.

The panel was created by the Dodd-Frank legislation passed by Congress last summer in an effort to fix flaws in current government regulation that were exposed by the financial crisis that struck with force two years ago.

Barr said that the 11 federal agencies were coordinating their investigation with state regulators across the country. He said the federal task force hoped to report back to the stability council at its January meeting.

“Major financial institutions are being reviewed for problems across a wide range of issues in foreclosure processing,” Barr said.

Members of the stability council heard Barr’s presentation but made no comments during the portion of the group’s meeting that was open to the public.

The foreclosure crisis followed a housing boom that had been fueled by borrowers being allowed to take out risky loans with variable interest rates that they could not afford.

Several major lenders temporarily suspended their foreclosures to review thousands of cases for improper handling. Attorney generals in all 50 states have also launched a joint investigation into the issue.

For years we’ve been screaming in the wilderness about the systemic problems that exist in foreclosures and the mortgage servicing industry.

For years, many of our arguments and legal pleadings have been rejected or disregarded. (Surely these banks cannot be lying in the pleadings, not in this courtroom, not in this state!?) And still, the system continues.

Well, the allegations of fraud, widespread abuse, lies and systematic violations are no longer just conjecture, speculation or opinion of advocates and defense attorneys.  After the testimony and admissions before the United States Senate, the allegations take on a whole other level of legitamacy.

The question now is how we are going to deal with this “new” awareness.

Wall Street Journal Article