Posts Tagged ‘ice legal’
The Pino Case- If The Court Considers Fraud on The Courts You’ll Create Chaos in The Courts.
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
The Pino Appeal is Florida’s Ibanez moment. The Florida Supreme Court will soon decide just how serious Florida courts are going to take systematic, repetitive fraud on the Courts of the State of Florida. The bottom line is this….
Will banks and foreclosure mills be given a free pass or will the Rule of Law be upheld in courtrooms across this state?
and
What will our courts do when confronted with evidence of widespread and systematic fraud on the court?
Here are the real issues, directly from the transcript:
MS. GIDDINGS: I’m urging you to consider this case in the grand scheme of things. If you allow courts to go back and open up all of these cases, when it’s clear on the face that there was no affirmative relief obtained, or that the affirmative relief would not have been material, then you’re going to create chaos in the court system.
JUDGE FARMER: So, are you suggesting that this fraud has been that widespread that it –
MS. GIDDINGS: Your Honor, I’m not acknowledging that any fraud occurred. I think that there is — we all know –
JUDGE FARMER: Why would we shrink — as a court system, why would we shrink, no matter how many cases it might involve, from looking out for attempts to defraud courts to publish and utter and use false
instruments? Why wouldn’t we be most vigilant?
JUDGE POLEN: These matters contained in Mr. Stern’s law firm are the subject of an investigation by the Attorney General, are they not?
MR. NIEVES: Yes, they are.
JUDGE POLEN: — to know that not just one, but perhaps dozens or hundreds of lawsuits filed in courts with fraudulent documents are being used as a basis to get foreclosures against people who don’t have the benefit of Mr. Nieves’ law firm to represent them.
JUDGE FARMER: Fraud on the Court is not material?
MS. GIDDINGS: Your Honor, fraud on the Court –
JUDGE FARMER: Publishing false documents is not material?
MS. GIDDINGS: Fraud on the Court did not occur in this case.
JUDGE FARMER: It didn’t.
MS. GIDDINGS: A document was filed, but nothing was ever heard before the Court. And if you look at the service expert’s case –
JUDGE FARMER: Let’s just confront that for a minute. I mean, to the extent that the cases that you talk about, Select, and the others talk about, and that is, achieving affirmative relief and all that stuff, I’m wondering if they’re not just talking about two different things as two separate grounds. In other words, obtaining or using voluntary dismissal after you’ve already gotten relief in some way may be one kind of piece of voluntary dismissal, but not under an entirely separate kind may be fraud or attempted fraud on the Court. I don’t know why we would adopt a rule of our inherent powers to deal with fraud in the Court, why we would engage in a reading that says only if the fraud proves to have been successful. And that is to say if the representee relied, to its detriment, on the fraud and changed their position and did stuff, only then would we allow relief of any kind. That strikes me as not –
JUDGE POLEN: I see a number of distinguishing factors, most important of which the alleged fraud that occurred in that case pertained to two affidavits which were filed by the appellee which the appellant suggested were fraudulent in furtherance of a motion for summary judgment, but only because they’re contesting the factual allegations and apparent inconsistencies that may have existed in those affidavits. Now, that may be considered some kind of fraud. But it’s not the kind of fraud on the Court that would be if the appellant here could prove their allegations, where documents filed in support of a mortgage foreclosure proceeding were fraudulently generated by employees of the attorney hired by your client.
And the bottom line:
To sum everything up, if this Court affirms the
Trial Court, it’s basically saying that it’s okay to
lie, cheat and steal, as long as, when you get
caught, you voluntarily dismiss the case. And that’s
what they’re trying to do, just allow the judges of
Florida to put a little sunshine in these issues, and
you can allow the courts to address the prevailing
fraud. By itself, that would deter a lot of these
abuses, when you empower our judges and allow them to
deal with the issues.
Pino_v._BNY_Mellon_Oral_Argument Transcript
Click below and watch the Oral Arguments
Flawed Service of Process Renders Foreclosures Void- Should Sheriffs Halt All Writs of Posesssion?
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
If the answer to any of those questions is “No”, then the entire case has to be started all over again. When we start uncovering evidence of systemic breakdown we’re going to be confronted with much larger problems and issues. What is the cumulative impact if a process server’s appointment was not renewed and she went out and served hundreds of lawsuits all across the county? What is the cumulative impact if a process server’s signature on returns of service does not match? Was someone else doing the purported service or was someone else filling out the return of service? Has anyone collected statistics on the attempts of service for process servers to determine whether all the alleged services are even statistically possible?
The Failure of the Process of Service of Process is another chapter in the revolting book called, The Failure of Everything and Everyone. At some point in the post mortem examination, we’ll have to examine the whole system, but for now, let’s just take a close look at each case and remember…..
Because strict compliance with statutory requirements of service is mandated, we conclude that failure to make the obligatory notations renders the service defective. We therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings. See Vidal v. Suntrust Bank, 41 So. 3d 401 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010).
Make no mistake, I’m a vocal and persistent defender of law enforcement and our Sheriffs. I want my law enforcement and judicial budgets pumped up. I want law enforcement officers well paid and budgets full. Now here’s a bombshell of a question…what if our Sheriffs departments across the state had been doing the service of process in the hundreds of thousands of foreclosure cases that have been filed and are currently pending? I’m no math wizard, but how ’bout we calculate the number of foreclosures filed in the county for 2009, then multiply by the average number of defendants. (Let’s not inflate that number with Unknown Spouses #4-#310 and Unknown Tenants #8- #240)
What you’re talking about is quite literally millions of dollars in revenue for each county’s law enforcement budget, paid for by the private sector that caused all this mess. As a consumer, a taxpayer, a voter, I would much rather see these millions of dollars being earned by my law enforcement and that money being used to pay for guns and cars and jobs and benefits for men and women who take an oath to Protect and Serve than seeing that money diverted into the hands of private companies with profit as a necessary business model.
This MULTI MILLION DOLLAR revenue issue for local law enforcement is yet another powerful reason why our courts need to clear the current backlog of stalled and flawed foreclosures through dismissals and force the firms to refile the cases….
BOMBSHELL- THE NEXT ROBO SIGNER CONTROVERSY- ROBO VERIFICATION OF COMPLAINTS..
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
Hat tips again to Ice Legal….
The bombs just keep dropping…attached is a deposition of a “robo verifier”. I also thought it would be helpful to include the copy of the Florida Supreme Court’s Task Force on Residential Mortgage Foreclosures so we could all be reminded what prompted the Florida Supreme Court to require complaints to be verified. Now the question is…do the practices as described in the deposition comply with the requirements of the Florida Supreme Court? And if they do not even come close to fulfilling the requirements, what if anything is anyone going to do about it? And if no one is going to do anything about it, then what’s the point of having any kind of rules anyway?
Filed_08-17-2009_Foreclosure_Final_Report
CarvajalBerner Depo-Verification of Complaints Redacted1
BOMBSHELL- SERVICE OF PROCESS PROBLEMS ARE THE NUCLEAR BOMB OF FRAUDCLOSUREGATE
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
I’ve been saying it forever and now more and more this is going to be ONE OF THE BIG BIG BIG ISSUES that is going to rock the foreclosure process….remember….
OUR ENTIRE LEGAL AND FINANCIAL SYSTEM IS PREDICATED UPON SERVICE OF PROCESS AND WE’VE GOT MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH SERVICE OF PROCESS IN THIS COUNTRY
ANOTHER HUGE, HUGE, HUGE, HAT TIP TO ICE LEGAL!
Ice Legal- One of Our Own Foreclosure Warriors Gets Serious Recognition!
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
I give a tremendous amount of credit to the press and Daily Business Review for taking the fight for truth in our courtrooms and running with it. We’re doomed if we cannot depend on our free press….please support those that support the cause by forwarding this link as far and wide as you can.
We all benefit when those that are in this fight get public recognition. If you believe that this fight exposes serious and even catastrophic risks to our courts and this country, then you will recognize the need to broadcast this message far beyond the narrow confines of our clients and foreclosure courtrooms.
We must all make the general public aware of the great harm this country is facing by the reckless policies of the past and helping our press to understand the issues and tell the stories may be the only hope we have left….!
Tom Ice- Foreclosure Champion and Finalist for Florida’s Most Effective Lawyer!
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
As most of you are aware, Tom Ice and his team at Ice Legal have been very, very effective in this Foreclosure War that we’re all in. The entire system of justice and the larger efforts to protect our courts and our clients have benefited from their appeals, depositions and the other excellent legal work they share with the community.
It’s no longer just this community of fighters that have recognized their work, The Daily Business Review has selected Tom and Ice Legal as one of their finalists for Most Effective Lawyers for 2010 where he will be recognized at a luncheon today and where the winner will be announced.
I think it’s a real testament to the work they’ve been doing that a foreclosure fighter is listed among all the other super star finalists.
Ice’s efforts, and the efforts of all who fight and share and work together in the community of Foreclosure Fighters, stand as a real testament to the highest ethical calling of our profession.
CONGRATULATIONS ICE!
