Matt Weidner – Fighting For The American People

Posts Tagged ‘tom ice’

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be never so vile. This day shall gentle his condition. And gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Today, Florida Trend, this state’s most influential business magazine released its issue on the Top News Makers of The Year.  Everyone who reads this blog and who supports the revolution that you are all part of are to be commended and recognized for the critical and absolutely essential role each and every one of you have played in this effort.

When you stand up and make your voice heard- You Make A Difference!

When you shared your stories of abuse and violations- You Made A Difference!

When you took the time to reach out to others that were suffering- You Made a Difference!

These recognitions are dramatic, stunning and important indicators of the real weight and impact of this battle.  These recognitions give validity and credence to the arguments we’ve all been making.

What is most profound about this recognition, and the recognition that Tom Ice recently received as Florida’s South Florida Business Journal recently recognized Tom Ice as Florida’s Real Estate Lawyer of the Year.  These are very important publications that speak to the business communities and the interests of those communities and these publications recognize the critical issues and how they are impacting not just real estate, but our entire economy in this state.

These problems are not getting any better and we’ll all have to work together to fashion real-world solutions to the ongoing hurricane called foreclosure that is stalled over our state.

And now, for the presentation…..

FLORIDA TREND

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!

Perhaps the only thing that will change things is hitting them on attorney’s fees….the evil that permeates this country is astonishing….

WE ALL OWE A TREMENDOUS DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO TOM ICE AND ICE LEGAL FOR ALL THEIR GROUNDBREAKING AND EARTH SHATTERING WORK.

What will you each day to fight the tyranny and the unchecked abuses of power?  What will you do each day to fight for your country?  Are you willing to stand up and fight the rich, the powerful, the entitled?  Will you dig deep inside your American psyche and reconnect with the patriot’s blood of your forefathers?

Valcarcel v Chase attny fees awarded 4D10-379

Have a seat people, it’s going to be a rough ride.  Things are going to get tough, but the genie cannot be put back in the bottle.  Pandora’s box cannot be closed, no multi state settlement agreement will settle things.  Class actions will not make things right.  When this all plays we’re going to be looking not to our modern financial system or current court decisions, we’re going to have to look quite a bit further back.  Let’s start here….

4th Amendment to The United States Constitution

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

14th Amendment to The United States Constitution

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Now, the Constitution of the United States of America is not typically cited in connection with foreclosure cases and the 4th Amendment does not strictly apply to civil cases, but what’s going on in Florida’s foreclosure courtrooms has taken us far beyond the typical state law considerations and outside the purview of our state court system which has proven wholly unprepared at dealing with the myriad problems demonstrated by Fraudclosuregate.  A powerful, reckless and I believe unconstitutional mindset has been allowed to permeate our judicial system and the effects will reverberate throughout the entire country.  While it is an unfortunate and quite disturbing fact that the great majority of foreclosure cases are not properly defended by an attorney or contested in any way. After being served with a foreclosure lawsuit, most homeowners just lay down and play dead. They walk away, they ignore the lawsuit, they do not contest the lawsuit.

Or do they?  Do they ever get served with the lawsuit?  In many cases they do not.  Remember that for a court to have jurisdiction over a person.  In order for that court’s ruling to have any legal force or authority at all, each defendant in that lawsuit MUST BE PERSONALLY SERVED.  There is an exception to that rule and that is if a person really cannot be found, the court can grant an exception and allow the case to proceed against the defendant through Constructive Service or Service by Publication.  But remember, alternate service is just an exception for the real thing.  The Constitutional thing, the Due Process thing.  The high percentage of foreclosure lawsuits that proceed not through personal service but through constructive service is a very real problem.  Remember the defendants in these homeowner cases lived in the homes in most cases.  In the vast majority of cases, they still do.  So why all the Constructive Service?  And what about no service at all?  Sewer service is real.  The woman speaking in broken English who just called to tell me no one ever served her or her husband but they lost their home….her story is real.  The immigrants family I know  who are hanging under a pending foreclosure sale date but who never got served….their story is real.  And so are thousands perhaps tens of thousands of other stories like this all across this state.  While their stories are real, some things are not.  The two “original” summons I’m holding in my hand….they’re not both real.  The Final Judgments of Foreclosure, the Certificates of Title… those are not real.  They’re VOID.  They don’t exist.  A judgment over a person from a court that does not have jurisdiction is a nullity, Void Ab Initio.  A term we’ll all be learning about for years to come.

And what about the cases where a Defendant actually does get served, but chooses not to respond or who throws up a pro se plea?  Does our modern court system owe no duty at all to those people?  I must respectfully disagree with a good judge who I respect who was recently quoted in the New York Times saying:

“We’re processing thousands of cases where no one is really contesting them, and in those instances, something like that just would not be brought to our attention,” said W. Douglas Baird, a judge in Clearwater. “It’s not a situation where the courts have the ability to go through every document that’s filed and challenge and question those documents.”

(I don’t want to single this judge out, he expresses an opinion of the state of the affairs in foreclosure courtrooms across the state.)

See Washington Post Article Here

Our courts have a responsibility not just to those people who do not contest the case and to those pro se who throw up a response.  Our courts have a much greater responsibility to our Constitution and our system of justice and to society as a whole.  If our courts do not challenge and question documents and if our judges do not challenge and question a system that has gone wild and out of control…the system will go wild and out of control.  And that is the system that we no find ourselves faced with.

If our judges are not challenging and questioning “those documents” , is anyone questioning “those documents”?  If no one is really contesting “them”, what might “they” be getting away with?  If big issues like Assignments of Mortgage and Service of Process have gone wild and out of control, what else is going unchallenged and unquestioned?  Forget about Stephan and the robo signers…has anyone ever really challenged any of the numbers?  And if no one is challenging the numbers what’s going missing?  What’s slipping through?  But then what does it matter anyway, I mean they’re all just deadbeats in foreclosure right?  And what’s a few thousand dollars extra in a foreclosure judgment right?  What’s a few thousand dollars between friends?  Between family? (Uncle)

But back to that thing called The Constitution of the United States.  I submit that all defendants, whether they respond to the case or not, are entitled to due process.  Those defendants are entitled to due process and the whole of society is entitled to due process.  I am entitled to due process in every foreclosure courtroom across this state.  Every citizen is entitled to due process….but we are not getting due process if the courts do not have the ability to go through documents and challenge and question those documents.  And a judgment that lacks due process in a foreclosure case results is a seizure of property that is not reasonable. The application of the Fourth Amendment applies because the real party at interest that is seizing this property is the United States government through its agents Fannie and Freddie. (Ignore the Plaintiffs in these cases, they are straw parties used to obscure the real party in interest, Uncle Sam.)

And while we’re at it, let’s talk about another one of those little Amendments to the United States Constitution. The First Amendment.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The press has gone wild reporting over Fraudclosuregate, as indicated in the attached story in the New York Times. The story is great, but it misses an important point….All of this has broken because the press is now reporting what is happening in our courtrooms…and the banksters don’t like it one bit. As you see from the attached motion that was filed in a Maine Courthouse, they are trying desperately to prevent the public from reading the kind of information that is posted on this website.

protective-Order-of-Removal-of-Jeffrey-Stephan-s-Deposition

Tie the New York Times article and the Order that was filed in court and you will see that Fraudclosuregate broke because the Stephan deposition was posted on this blog.  Don’t ever forget the debt of gratitude we all owe to Tom Cox and Tom Ice. Without their work and the depositions being made public, they would have continued to get away with it….please also note the date on the Ice deposition.  The banksters are working hard to try and put the genie back in the bottle and to hide all of this from you, the American people….but I have other plans.  We’re going to keep fighting them.  The American people are going to rise up and fight the Wall Street Wizards and the Fat Cats and their minions toiling away in law offices all across this country.

The press will continue to do the sacred job our founding forefathers empowered them to do….and somehow we will all make our way out of this mess….maybe….

Tom Ice and Ice Legal have been fighting this battle longer than just about anyone….following is a great article in Reuters….

Reuters

Foreclosure defense attorneys and advocates have known if for a very long time….ICE LEGAL in West Palm Beach, Florida is one of the best foreclosure defense firms in the country.
The work they produce and their advocacy on behalf of homeowners and in support of the very real principles of equity, justice and fairness is second to none.

And now the rest of the world knows it.  The press has now picked up on the very real fraud that is occurring in our foreclosure courtrooms.  Read the very powerful juxtaposition between the good work Ice does and the way unrepresented homeowners get creamed in foreclosure court…..

WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE HERE