JEDTI= Jurists Engaged in Defense of Title Integrity
The first JEDTI group was formed by Clearwater, Florida attorney and title insurance expert Greg Clark. It’s a cohesive group of att0rney members with vast and varied legal backgrounds and areas of expertise, including appellate law, trial work, corporate and business transactional and litigation experience. The members are committed to defending judges and our courts and to sounding the alarm that today’s sloppy and improper foreclosure practices are going to have catastrophic consequences on property ownership in this country for decades to come. JEDTI presents both a warning and a solution.
During the last quarter of 2010, the rest of the world woke up to the dark storm clouds that cover our country, dark foreboding storm clouds full of rain and lighting that are soaking through and destroying the record title ownership system that is one of the foundations of this country. The existing mess will take years to clear up, but we can prevent the situation from getting worse by not moving forward on cases where real questions exist.
As we all dust off the dirt, the slop, the filth that was 2010, it’s time to clear the decks, flush out the toxic slop that clogs our courts and start fresh. We cannot continue the practice of foreclosure business as usual in 2011. We cannot continue the reckless race to summary judgment that caused so much uproar during the last half of 2010. Instead, it’s time for our courts to find legitimate, fair and rule-based reasons to dismiss many of the cases that clog the backlogged foreclosure docket. Failure to Prosecute, Failure to Serve Defendants, Failure to Verify, Failure to State a Cause of Action, Improper Plaintiff. All of these offer legitimate and appropriate reasons to dismiss the cases that are filed (and many forgotten) but which continue to choke our court systems.
Rather than ignore or dismiss Defendant’s Motions to Dismiss, our courts must respond to the arguments and recognize that granting motions to dismiss is an appropriate way to mete out judicial efficiency and be responsive to taxpayer demands that our courts do equity and manage taxpayer resources. The fact of the matter is that our courts and every single taxpayer in this state are subsidizing the improper practices of the foreclosure mills. The foreclosure mills made business decisions to cut corners and turn profits. They make millions while our courts struggle to keep up with their toxic deluge.
There are jurists across this state who are engaged in the battle not just the defense of title integrity but also the defense of our judges and court system in general. There are judges and private practice attorneys and attorneys that work with law enforcement and regulatory agencies who are battling every day to set all of this right and turn this around. We can never be certain what this new year will bring, but we all know the current state of affairs cannot continue.
We’ve all got to work together to usher in a new era of solutions to this problem that continues to grip our country. We need to show the general public the critical function that attorneys serve in the midst of this crisis by continuing the tireless service to our clients, our courts and our country. Let’s hope 2011 ushers in a new era and that real resolution can be reached.
