Matt Weidner – Fighting For The American People

Posts Tagged ‘foreclosure fraud fighter’

The national media, attorneys, homeowners, activists and shareholders across the country are struggling to understand what the recent announcement by GMAC means and what it means that some of the foreclosure mills have attempted to withdraw affidavits that they have submitted in court cases.  Some insight into what this might mean comes from my friend and Foreclosure Fraud Fighter John Redding.  You see Redding was an underwriting attorney for a title insuror and he’s got some authoritative speculation on the potential meaning and consequences of these unprecedented developments.  Below is what he had to say.  I find it very credible and the potential far reaching impact if he is correct is part of what we’ve all been warning about for a very long time….read on…..
The Palm Beach Post reported today that GMAC has suspended all pending foreclosures nationwide because of a practice uncovered in Florida that could lead to VOIDABLE foreclosure judgments – thus creating havoc with foreclosure sales and REO sales.  The article, GMAC Suspends Foreclosure Evictions and Sales of Seized Property<http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/gmac-suspends-foreclosure-evictions-and-sales-of-seized-927171.html>, cites the deposition taken by a Palm Beach County law firm that exposed the practice of affidavits regarding the verification of accuracy of a complaint and information about the loan being summarily signed in conveyor belt fashion. In the affidavits the signor is saying he or she has personal knowledge of the facts in the affidavit. The deposition showed that in fact such statements were untrue.

This creates a huge problem.  If there is a fraud on the court (the court is asked to consider these affidavits in making a judicial review as part of having that judge issue a foreclosure judgment), then the judgment can be reversed. Essentially the judgment is “voidable”.

There is no statute of limitations on the voidablity of a judgment because of fraud on the court.  Wikipedia has a basic and accurate statement on this issue:

In the U.S., when an officer of the court<http://activerain.com/wiki/Officer_of_the_court> is found to have fraudulently presented facts to court so that the court is impaired in the impartial performance of its legal task, the act, known as “fraud upon the court”, is a crime deemed so severe and fundamentally opposed to the operation of justice that it is not subject to any statute of limitation.

Officers of the court include: Lawyers, Judges, Referees, and those appointed; Guardian Ad Litem, Parenting Time Expeditors, Mediators, Rule 114 Neutrals, Evaluators, Administrators, special appointees, and any others whose influence are part of the judicial mechanism.

“Fraud upon the court” has been defined by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to “embrace that species of fraud which does, or attempts to, defile the court itself, or is a fraud perpetrated by officers of the court so that the judicial machinery can not perform in the usual manner its impartial task of adjudging cases that are presented for adjudication.” Kenner v. C.I.R., 387 F.3d 689 (1968); 7 Moore’s Federal Practice, 2d ed., p. 512, ¶ 60.23

In Bulloch v. United States, 763 F.2d 1115, 1121 (10th Cir. 1985), the court stated “Fraud upon the court is fraud which is directed to the judicial machinery itself and is not fraud between the parties or fraudulent documents, false statements or perjury. … It is where the court or a member is corrupted or influenced or influence is attempted or where the judge has not performed his judicial function — thus where the impartial functions of the court have been directly corrupted.”

What this means for existing judgments of foreclosure? Each is subject to scrutiny. One big problem is FUTURE real estate closings. If title passing needs to have title insurance and the closing is an REO sale or is a purchase from a foreclosure sale, title insurers may be fearful of insuring into a lawsuit since there is a distinct and not remote chance that the foreclosure judgment could be set aside.

As of this writing no insurance company has made the announcement that it will not insure REO or foreclosure sale properties- but wait a few days after the underwriters start to examine this new risk.  The inability to obtain title insurance will certainly inhibit the private purchase of property at foreclosure sales and from REO inventory where the property was acquired by foreclosure sale.

John N. Redding, Esq.
Redding & Associates, P.A.
230 East Davis Boulevard, Suite 210
Tampa, Florida 33606
Telephone 813.258.4401
Facsimile 813.259.1545
www.jrtampalaw.com<http://www.jrtampalaw.com/>

I had my back up against a wall going into a summary judgment hearing yesterday because my client had been convinced by the lender that he should ignore me and stop working with his attorney to try and protect his case.  The lender assured him that they would work things out so he didn’t need to respond to my letters and emails.

He finally came to me just before the hearing and I was scrambling to put together my defense when local Foreclosure Fraud Fighter Mark Stopa sent me an email reminding me that these foreclosure mills cannot rely upon affidavits of attorneys fees to establish those fees, the expert testifying to those fees must be in court in person.  I attach the case law on both that issue and the other issues I was prepared to argue below:

Attorney’s Fees

Thankfully we didn’t even get that far in this hearing because in this circuit, the judges are very serious about devoting adequate time to argue summary judment when the issues are contested.  I hear these horror stories about Rocket Dockets elsewhere and it just blows my mind because I have only had one Summary Judgment hearing where I felt like I was not being given adequate time or my arguments not being seriously considered.  I reported that defeat, but I am most pleased to report that I had that reversed on rehearing.  The care taken by the judges in this circuit shows that highest level of judicial discretion that we should expect in every hearing, in every courtroom across the state.

Anyway, much thanks to Mark Stopa for sharing his good work.  Mark is a tenacious and very good attorney who is not at all willing to back down from a big fight...I encourage you to visit his website here.

Finally, let me again encourage each of you to visit Dan Gelber’s campaign page, and particularly look here at his issues section for detailed information about mortgage fraud and fights.

We can make a difference in this race, but every single one of you needs to sign up, sign on and make your voice heard in this campaign.  When you are frustrated, overwhelmed and feel helpless, channel that energy into something that might actually be useful, like volunteering for his campaign or at least sharing your concerns on his Facebook page here.

Foreclosure Fraud Fighter Chip Parker has established a nationally-recognized name for digging out examples of fraud and aggressively defending foreclosure cases.  Everyone is encouraged to visit his firm’s website here.

All across this country some judges have become numb to the fraud that is being committed in their courtrooms.  Some judges are afraid to call it what it is and to be direct and clear about the seriousness of the violations.

The order found here shows what happens when a judge “gets it” after a good attorney has done his job to document the issues that are presented.  What’s most disturbing about this is the fact that I believe there could be thousands perhaps tens of thousands of these orders that could be issued every day.  I hope that our elected circuit court judges will begin to take serious note of such issues and begin to start issuing more orders like this.

Several important things this week, Thursday is a major battle in my epic fight against Indymac.  In cases all across the country, Indymac continues to pursue foreclosure when I contend, supported by their own documents and contracts with the FDIC, that they no longer have the capacity or authority to pursue these cases…when pushed on the issue, the attorneys in my case finally admitted as much…ON THE EVE OF TRIAL. The question before the court is do we allow such substitutions to occur when they are prejudicial to my client and when the attorneys have been misrepresenting this key fact or do we just allow them to get away with it?  Stay tuned, update on Friday. Tomorrow, Thursday, July 8th, 2010 beginning at 10:00 a.m., I will appear on “THE POWER HOUR” , a nationally syndicated political talk show where the subject will be all foreclosures….hear about latest developments, get detailed updates on important trial topics and learn about new appellate court cases.

Click here for more information and to log on online.

The amount of press coverage about notary fraud is becoming very encouraging, let’s all keep the focus up and make sure the word get’s out there.

And finally, from my friend and fellow foreclosure fraud fighter, Mike Wasylik, have a look here at a massive foreclosure fraud scam he just uncovered….it potentially affects all you folks facing foreclosure sales in the immediate future.

Click on this link for more information.

Search this blog and you will see that for months now I’ve been arguing that the “evidence” submitted by Plaintiffs in foreclosure cases does not even come close to meeting the legal and evidentiary requirements for courts to grant summary judgment.

After performing extensive legal research to confirm this hunch, I have drafted and filed detailed memoranda, supported by all available case law, that stands for the proposition that the practices used by virtually every foreclosure mill in the state do not provide the evidentiary basis for a court to grant summary judgment.

So why are courts across this state continuing to grant summary judgment?  There really is NO LEGAL BASIS TO SUPPORT THE GRANTING OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN THE VAST MAJORITY OF FORECLOSURE CASES CURRENTLY FILED IN COURTS ACROSS THIS STATE.

I attach here the most fantastic transcript of a hearing I’ve heard in a long time.  This transcript shows a couple things:

First, the judges in the Sixth Circuit of Florida really, really get it.

Second, this particular judge goes far and above to do his job and deliver real, hard, honest legal work.

Third, as I mentioned above…the current processes and procedures used by the foreclosure mills do not provide courts the evidentiary or legal basis required to grant summary judgment.

But now the big question that comes to mind….now that this judge gets it…and now that my memos and others like my friend and fellow Foreclosure Fighter Mike Wasylik are starting to leak out there…

What happens to all the hundreds of thousands of homes that have been foreclose on by improper evidence?