I am taking serious heat and feel tremendous anxiety and pressure for the grave concerns I’ve expressed about how foreclosures are being implemented IN SOME COUNTIES AND IN SOME INSTANCES IN FLORIDA.
My comments were not intended to be a repudiation of all courts or the entire state court system, I was merely responding to reports made in many national news media outlets where judges are quoted as saying they did not have the time to review the foreclosure cases that were presented to them. To the extent my comments were directed to specific reports that courts are not reviewing cases, I stand by my opinion that this cannot be tolerated. Having said that, I have always made it very clear that the Sixth Judicial Circuit has, in my consistent experience, worked very hard to ensure that fundamental rights of all parties are not being violated.
With that being said, it is significant to note that the rather dramatic and controversial opinions I have expressed are shared by others who are far better informed and far more objective than I am:
Washington Post Reports Federal Task Force Formed
American Civil Liberties Union Investigation of Foreclosure Procedures in Florida
I want to restate my profound respect for my state’s judges and encourage all to review all of my published comments on these matters. I have consistently and unequivocally expressed my respect for all judges and the court system in general and reinforce that the purpose of my very public comments is my belief that I have a professional obligation to protect and defend my profession, the courts, our judges and the communities we serve.
Matt I have to say I agree you have been careful in your language concerning the courts, judges and so forth. You have been critical of their conduct and I do not think this is a violation of any ethics of the Bar. If anything, men like you, Mark Stopa, and Thomas Ice bring great credit to the legal system. If there were no dedenders like the offices represented by you three great Americans, I am afraid there would already be vigilanti groups already formed. There certainly are enough mad enough to start picketing court houses and calling out the names of judges who I personally believe are shysters. But my words are not your words and posting my thoughts certainly does not mean you agree with them. It means only you believe in posting comments of those who read your posts. I wondered how long it would take for the Bar to conjure up complaints against you guys to shut you down, haul you in for violation or ethics, and then try to strip you of your rights to practice law. Now that would stir up some wrath from people like me. I would not be picketing the court house, I would be at the doors of the Florida Bar or near by. Please keep us posted Mr. Weidner if the Bar tries any of this underhanded stuff. You fight for us, we will fight for you….
Judges must uphold the law just like any other citizen. No one is above the law, even judges and when they are in violation of a persons rights of due process, they NEED to be made aware of the fact that they are just men in a position of power and they should follow the law just like the rest of us and not abuse that position. Maybe we wouldn’t have so many foreclosures if the banks would make the adjustments to the loan amount and adjust it down to market value. The foreclosures are only exacerbating the problem because it has become a downward domino effect. They must stabilize the market. Dumping a bunch of low priced homes on the market after the bank gets them back does NOT help the situation as it is bringing down everyone elses values. They are selling the homes at rock bottom prices anyway, why not just give the discount to the homeowner and help keep the family in the home. They are forgetting that PEOPLE are the face behind a file and a doocument. Greed and money have become the law of the land and the government providing for the welfare of the people has gone out the window in this chaos. NO ONE should be kicked out of their home for the “almighty” dollar.
The banksters created the economic crisis, which caused the market downturn and people to lose their jobs, and yet the investors and borrowers are the ones paying the price, while the banksters profited millions of dollars on each of these loans. It’s called corruption gone wild and we need to pull in the reins on the ones that created the mess with their paper shell games – WALL STREET!