Posts Tagged ‘rally in tally’
Rally In Tally Update and Videos
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
Yesterday’s Rally in Tally- the Rally in Support of Homeowner’s Rights was both a terrifying and inspiring event. The inspiring part was that homeowners and attorneys from across the took time away from their lives to be part of this hastily-planned event.
The terrifying part is finding out just how ill-informed are legislators are and hearing directly from them just how hard the bankers are working to pass anti-consumer foreclosure legislation. While we may have beaten back this bad, bad legislation that was about pass for now, the Bankers are Coming Back harder than ever and no-one but the bankers is going to like what comes from it. I particularly urge you to watch the second video…at the end Bradenton Senator Michael Bennett vows that they are coming back with this bad legislation.
Our media coverage of this event was good and we did have success in spreading our message to legislators, but now the real work begins. We have a very limited window of opportunity to work on creating solutions to the foreclosure problem. If YOU-YES YOU! And I mean every one of you reading this blog does not get involved in this fight, the Fat Cat Bankers are going to find a way to end foreclosure litigation…THEY ARE DETERMINED TO SLAM THE COURTHOUSE DOOR SHUT and they’re going to do it…IF YOU DON’T GET INVOLVED. Every legislator we spoke with is unhappy with the current situation and many are
OUTRIGHT HOSTILE AT EFFORTS OF THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT TO SOLVE THE FORECLOSURE PROBLEM.
What can you do? Very soon the lawyers reading this blog will be asked to contribute funds to this effort. Putting this effort together took time, but importantly it cost money….lots of money. I’m happy to say that the lawyers involved in spearheading this effort that supports EVERY LAWYER IN THIS STATE AND EVERY CONSUMER IN THIS STATE, immediately reached into their pockets and wrote checks to pay for buses, logistics and importantly to pay for a lobbing team that worked on our behalf. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the following:
Ice Legal out of West Palm, Mark Stopa out of Tampa/Sarasota, Chip Parker out of Jacksonville, John Coates out of Pinellas Park and Dave Acosta from Case Clarity.
These folks are real leaders in this effort and we all need to support and recognize their practices as a result of their contributions.
We are dividing the state into legislative districts and we’re going to ask one firm or lawyer from each district to step up and serve as the lead firm in this on-going fight to protect consumers and fight anti-foreclosure legislation. Once the legislative session ends lawyers must begin to meet with their legislators in the districts and spearhead efforts to get your clients involved. We will also ask that lawyers from each circuit meet with their Chief Judge- the legislature approved millions in additional funding that will soon be distributed to each circuit…the lawyers who practice foreclosure law should be meeting with their Chief Judge to help determine what programs will be put in place.
For now, watch the videos and get ready to get involved. Click on the map here to find out your legislative district. We will ask 120 lawyers from around this state to serve as the leaders in each of the legislative districts….and to raise money in each district.
Make it a standard part of your practice to MAKE SURE YOUR CLIENTS KNOW THEIR LEGISLATORS AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO CONTACT THEIR LEGISLATOR TOO!
Media Coverage Of Event
“Senator Vows- We’re Taking These Homes”
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Click to see Bay News 9 Coverage
My Fox Network Coverage: “Rally planned against foreclosure bill“
More Attorneys Contribute Their Time, Talent and Treasure in The Fight For Foreclosure Fairness
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
As I write this post, the buses are preparing to leave from all over Florida for their early morning meeting with destiny on the steps of the Capitol.
Because of the large response that we have received to this event we were required us to move to the West Side of the Capitol, just in the shadow of the Florida Supreme Court…frankly that’s even more appropriate because the message we bring is one for both the legislators and our esteemed judges in the State of Florida.
Citizens of this state will forever owe gratitude to the attorneys who selflessly contributed their time, talent and made significant financial contributions to make this happen so quickly. In so doing, The Ice Law Firm, (West Palm/South Florida), The Mark Stopa Law Firm, (Tampa/Orlando), Parker and DuFresne (Jacksonville/North Florida) and now Jon Coats from Jon Coats PA (Pinellas Park/St. Petersburg) have earned the respect of their colleagues from across the state for the good work they are doing. 
The fact that these firms have contributed to this effort shows they’re not just dabbling in this area of the law….these good lawyers have turned foreclosure defense, the protection of their clients and their efforts to restore respect for the judiciary into a outright crusade.
Every client needs to hire an attorney to protect your interests, but the fact of the matter is that these attorneys and others who are involved with this fight have devoted their lives and their careers to protecting clients….regardless of their ability to pay….is a reflection of the highest ethical goals this profession maintains.
To all you out there in foreclosure or in trouble…don’t lose faith in the law or in lawyers….you’ve got lawyers like the ones referred to above to look out for you!
We’ll see you at the Capital in just a few hours.
Release and Talking Points For Homeowner’s Rights Rally in Tallahassee
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
Attached is our final and most detailed release and talking points. Please distribute and we’ll see you in Tallahassee.
While We Rally For Basic Homeowner Rights- Fat Cats on Wall Street Shovel Profits Into Their Own Pockets!
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
The Fat Cats are out of the bags. The wave of investigations and information and press is only just beginning. Now that national press has picked up on the systemic fraud that was occurring on national and international levels, all these investigations and facts will ultimately make their way into examining the individual foreclosure files in courtrooms across the State of Florida. See Wall Street Journal Article Here.
Every foreclosure judgment granted from this point forward until we get any sort of handle on how deep these rabbit holes go represent fundamental miscarriages of basic justice.
And now, a brand new concept we all need to begin familiarizing ourselves with….
FORECLOSURE ACTIONS ARE ACTIONS “IN EQUITY”
Legal Beagles, Scholars and Advocates….start chewing on this concept now.
Rally in Tally in the Tampa Tribune Today!
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
TAMPA – Lawyers and consumer advocates plan a rally in Tallahassee Wednesday to protest a controversial bill that would speed up foreclosures in Florida.
The legislative bill would allow lenders to foreclose on homeowners without approval from a judge in as little as 90 days. It appears to have stalled, but the group says it wants to send a message to legislators.
“Do not take away valuable consumer protections,” the lawyers said in a news release. “We want to work together to solve the current crisis.”
One of the lawyers organizing the event is Matthew Weidner, of St. Petersburg. He says hundreds, possibly thousands, will attend.
“People feel insecure about their futures and finances,” Weidner said. “This is an issue that touches everyone.”
House Bill 1523 would allow lenders to skip legal proceedings unless the borrower requests the foreclosure go through the courts
Florida law requires a lender to file a foreclosure lawsuit and have the foreclosure granted from a judge. There are nearly 500,000 pending foreclosure cases in Florida, among the worst in the nation. Because of the backlog, foreclosures can take months or years.
Critics say the bill significantly shortens the foreclosure process, making it more difficult for troubled borrowers to save their houses. They say the bill wouldn’t help the backlog of foreclosures because it applies only to new cases.
Supporters say it would take a burden away from judges and is good for neighbors weary of long-vacant houses in their community.
There are 30 states that have a nonjudicial foreclosure process, allowing some lenders to foreclose on properties in as little as a month.
Anthony DiMarco, executive vice president for governmental affairs for the Florida Bankers Association, said lenders hope the bill will eventually pass.
“We’re disappointed that it may not pass this session,” DiMarco said. “But we understand that we’re making a major change to the law. What we’re proposing won’t solve everything, but we can’t get the real estate market back on track until we deal with these foreclosures.”
The rally is planned for 9 a.m. Wednesday on the steps of the state capitol. A bus will leave for Tallahassee at 3 a.m.Wednesday from 1 Corporate Center, near International Plaza in Tampa.
Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804
Why The Rally in Tally? The Foreclosure Mills and MERS Represent A Fundamental Breakdown in Law And Institutions
Author: Matthew D. Weidner, Esq.
The Fight for Homeowner’s Rights that we’re taking to the Florida State Capitol at 9:00 am tomorrow morning is not just about defending homeowner’s rights. While that is key, it’s frankly much bigger than that. What we need judges, legislators and the public at large to understand is that the foreclosure crisis as it is now being played out in our country’s courts, presents a clear, present and grave threat to our most important branch of government….the judicial branch.
A Short Explanation of the Greatest Con in The History of Mankind And Why We’re Going to Tallahassee
This country and in fact the world economy was brought to its knees by the fraud and games played by the banksters. They conned the people when mortgages were originated, the institutions conned each other when the packaged and traded the pools of loans and they conned our retirement funds and the investment houses of our allies abroad when they packaged and sold these mulit-million dollar pools of consolidated fraud.
When the con was discovered, the federal government stepped in and payed off the investors because they were “too big to fail”….and the consters took more profits of the top of the bailouts. When the feds provided money to rehabilitate the servicers and lenders (more than $75 billion to dates), they pocketed that money and are not using it to help the American people. Now the lenders and servicers have moved the end product of their con into the courtrooms all across this state. Rather than admit the problems they have and own up to the fraud and lies that have infected their entire industry-wide business practices, they are perpetuating the con artistry and creating still more fraud and deceit.
Document Mills filled with Robo Signers toil away 24 hours a day creating patently false or facially questionable documents based on instructions from the con artist lenders and the foreclosure mills they have retained. The documents created in these mills almost never have any basis is known facts and are often patently incorrect. When these documents are next formally or informally entered into court cases by attorneys, they become evidence. The documents are not evidence that proves a right to foreclose….they’re the final piece of documentary evidence of an industry that went wildly out of control. For too long, judges relied on this “evidence” as the basis to throw good homeowners out of their homes, but that is changing. Defense attorneys have caught onto the patterns and practices of fraud and deceit and now judges are beginning to see this evidence not as evidence to support foreclosure, but Evidence of the Greatest Con In The History of Mankind.
We all need to support our judges….we all need to do our jobs better. Preserve the evidence. Hire court reporters for every single hearing. Examine all evidence carefully and make proper legal objections to that evidence. Understand the rules that apply in court and the case law and statutes that govern our courts then make them apply in court cases. Recently Judge Rondolino examined all the case law surrounding the introduction of affidavits in foreclosure cases and came to a conclusion I had months ago….the affidavits admitted in virtually every foreclosure case are completely inadmissible and cannot be used to grant foreclosure. Read the transcript of this hearing here. This issue first came to light when a third year law school student working with me, Michael Fuino, examined the process and questioned the basic assumptions we had all been operating under….the point is it took a third year law school student to catch an issue that we’ve all been incorrectly working under for years and which affects literally million of cases across this country.
The fast-food, Persian bazaar manner in which affidavits, assignments and other evidence are created and presented in our courts and the unfortunate way in which this “evidence” is accepted represents a fundamental breakdown in the ability of our courts to dispense justice. Granting foreclosure is not a business process. The Grant of Foreclosure is a judicial act and it deserves the same respect, dignity and thoughtfulness as any other judicial act.
Our courts are not assembly lines obliged to rapidly dispense Orders at the demand of Con Artists and their Lawyers. Our courts are the last bastion of truth and hope and dignity in a crumbling world. When a judge puts on that judicial robe he or she wields the awesome power of the Constitution of the United States and of the State he or she serves. When the processes and evidence placed before our judges is so perverted that we lose sight of the awesome power we’ve instilled in our courts, then we’ve lost our way….and that cannot be allowed to continue.
Below is Greg Clark’s compelling video that explains how these processes are being used to perpetuate this fraud and below that are talking points that he will deliver in Tallahassee on Wednesday April 21 in the Capitol. Together we will turn this around. Justice demands it.
What’s wrong with MERS?
The issue I argue is that a ”Nominee” does not have the power or authority to assign. It is a very limited, really the lowest, form of agency. They only have what is expressly granted them in the mortgage. The MERS mortgage does not grant MERS the authority to sell or transfer the mortgage loan nor the power to assign its duties as nominee. In fact the MERS mortgage itself fails as a conveyance for being indeterminate with its language being hopelessly vague and ambiguous and because splitting a mortgage away from its note, bifurcation, is not allowed at common law without rendering the mortgage a nullity. Furthermore, although it might be swallowed that MERS was agent enough to represent the original lender how can it possibly act as agent for subsequent note holders? an agency is not assignable. Further, how can there even be an agency created in the first instance between MERS and the original lender by virtue of the mortgage?: it was not signed
by either the principal or the agent, only the borrower.
In short, the MERS mortgage is legally problematic and to me fails as an effective, valid conveyance in the first instance. Please take the time to read the Kansas Supreme Court decision in the Landmark v. Kesler case. Google: Kansas Kesler MERS. Also read the appellate opinion which was affirmed on appeal to the Kansas Supreme Ct. We (JEDTI) have this issue before the 5th DCA in the Taylor Appeal (George Gingo’s case). it is fully briefed and ready for oral argument which we hope is scheduled for early summer. MERS was and remains instrumental in cloaking and making invisible the real note holder, the owner and real party in interest, the guy we really owe the debt to. In essence using the MERS as a strawman lien holder prevents any meaningful, reliable title search to determine who is the right party to payoff; MERS does not take payoff checks, yet it holds the mortgage.
I believe its use has rendered our public title registration system useless as a means of verifying and assuring clear title. If the note owner/holder is the true lienholder then the creation and use of MERS has created the invisible lienholder which is the antithesis to why we have a public record in the first place. It’s use has also deprived our local county governments of recording revenue as the note holders/owners simply transfer/assign “electronically” to each other within this privately controlled matrix.
Imagine, if the law wants to abide the concept of MERS and give it a legal pass then why can’t I formed my own company and called it “DERS” Deed Electronic Registration System”, what’s good for title to mortgages should be good for title to the real estate itself: DERS would hold legal title to a deed to real estate as “nominee” and all subsequent transfers could be done electronically from sellers to buyers with out the need to record, all done privately, all out of site and control of the people, the government. Imagine the revenue the county and state would miss out on. Of course you would have to be a fee paying member to join my private, closely held company. Like starting my own little country with its own private tax collecting system, controlling economic information.
America’s economic vibrancy has always been based on its freedom of title information, neutrally kept in an egalitarian public record, and the rule of law, which cedes no monopolistic power, cloaked and hidden, over our property rights. Trusting our public record, giving it over to select, privately motivated, and unelected entities, does not promote a fair and level playing field for all investors nor a safe place to write title insurance to protect those investors. It seems pretty undemocratic at best.
And at worst seems to fit glove in hand with an unregulated Wall street as one of the reasons for, or indeed the very catalyst itself that enabled our economic meltdown.
