“You know what I’d like to see? I’d like to see in one of these cases where a defense attorney cross-examines, takes the deposition of these people and we can see whether they should be charged with perjury for all these affidavits.”
While I certainly share the exact sentiment expressed in the above quote, those aren’t my words. They are the words of a judge. A Circuit Court Judge who is acutely aware of the solemn power and responsibility his position holds. I encourage everyone who reads this blog to read the first transcript below and see just how seriously this judge takes his job. There is a reason why Pinellas County and the Sixth Circuit is known as one of the toughest circuits in the state and why the case law that comes from this circuit is so powerful.
When mediation programs collapse in other areas of the state because lenders will not negotiate in good faith. When lawyers and their clients are prosecuted for engaging in systemically unethical and fraudulent practices. When real estate markets suffer even more catastrophic collapse. When title insurance companies go bankrupt from claims of void judgments and fraud on the court, we will all look back at hearings like the one memorialized in this transcript and recognize that there were many judges and practitioners who understood the issues and began working to resolve them a long time before the collapse occurs.
THERE IS A SOLUTION TO THE FORECLOSURE CRISIS
There very much is a way out of the foreclosure mess that we’re all in and it’s all very simple. Lenders participate in mediations in good faith. Borrowers accurately and timely disclose financial information. Borrower and lender enter into long term settlement agreements that allow the borrower to stay in and maintain a home based upon the resources available to them. That’s the best deal a bank’s ever going to get, but they’re not yet prepared to accept that deal. Until they come to understand this, we must continue to press the very real issues that are detailed in the motions and transcripts below:
Calvin Johnson Affidavit, Obj to Hearing, Req for Contin, D’s Obj to P’s Mot for SJ-1
And finally, the touchstone case on admissibility of affidavits:
