Clearing 65,830 Foreclosure Cases is No Accomplishment
I’ve been a vocal and persistent critic of the Foreclosure Rocket Docket and frankly of most of the court’s efforts to clear foreclosure cases across the state. The fundamental basis for my objections is my belief that the current manner in which these cases are being disposed of represents a breakdown in the basic requirements of justice, fairness and equality that we should all expect from our courts. I find it particularly inequitable that $9.6 million dollars in taxpayer funding has been used to fund and establish these Rocket Dockets, taxpayer’s own funding being used to fund and create a court system where their basic rights and long established rules of procedure and evidence are potentially ignored in a systematic manner. With all that we’ve learned about the conduct of f0reclosure cases, you would think our courts would finally start to understand and appreciate the gross inequities involved here…instead…..
Many months after I started sounding the warning bell, the Florida Attorney General announced it was investigating four of the foreclosure mills operating in the state…..and courts across the state continued to march ahead with foreclosures.
Many months after the Florida AG’s investigations were announced transcripts were released by foreclosure mill employees which confirmed my worst fears and suspicions about our courts being manipulated and defrauded…and still courts across teh state continued to march ahead with foreclosures.
Weeks after the transcripts were released the national press reported that the Plaintiffs themselves had admitted systemic problems with evidence they had submitted in courtrooms…and still courts across the state continued to march ahead with foreclosures.
If you’re not offended and insane with rage and anger, keep in mind that the Return on Investment for the foreclosure mills realized by their Rocket Docket is incredible. 65,830 x an average attorney fee of $1,200= $78,996,000. That’s a massive amount of cash that’s making its way back to the foreclosure mills that are under investigation.
There is so much more to be reported on about this report card, so many more hard questions that must be asked. How many of those judgments were based on affidavits that were later formally withdrawn and what happens in those cases? How many of those judgments were based on affidavits that were not formally withdrawn but should have? What are the foreclosure mills doing to alert the court to the cases that are based on these flawed affidavits or are they just standing as if nothing at all happened? What about the thousands of judgments that are entered based upon the flawed procedures and evidence described in the transcripts released by the Florida Attorney General? And a persistent, damming question that I have raised from the beginning….why are our courts not dismissing cases that violate the black and white rules of the court which would permit them to dismiss cases sua sponte?
Great reporting from Kimberly Miller at Palm Beach Post, article here.
The Damming Report Card below: