Florida’s Foreclosure Courts Have Been Infected With A Dangerous Hysteria
Both the Florida and the United States Constitutions direct that the judicial branch must ensure that citizens are afforded due process and that basic rights must be upheld. These same Constitutions direct that all three branches should be independent, co-equal branches of government.
It was further understood that the Judicial Branch would operate as a check, a backstop, a moderating force against the whims and rants of the legislative and executive branches. The rash and impudent, often young elected leaders would be held in check by the elder, the learned, the experienced, the guardians of liberty and justice, The Judicial Branch.
But today, all across this country, we see that this is not at all the case. We see in fact that the entirety of the judicial branch has bowed down in service to the executive and legislative branches, doing whatever it is that they demand.
This is of course most dangerous, and most apparent today, in Florida Foreclosure Courtrooms. It pains me to describe the Foreclosure Star Chambers that exist as courtrooms, because I don’t want to desecrate the sacred nomenclature that lawyers took an oath to protect.
What is occurring all across this state, is this state’s elder leaders, the judges, have fallen lockstep into the demands of the other two branches. And remember what the outcome of this foreclosure hysteria is….
Stripping private property away from individuals and concentrating that in the hands of the federal government and private and foreign investors
This point is never, ever made or even considered by policy makers, and precious little attention is given to this issue by the judges who are following lockstep. Florida’s courts are driven by excel spreadsheets that painstakingly record the number of CASES CLOSED. But no one is paying attention to the fact that CASE CLOSED does not mean that property returns to the private marketplace, purchased on the courthouse steps in a public sale. No, instead the “public” foreclosure auction is manipulated Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and the institutional real estate players to ensure that property returns to the inventory of the ultimate beneficiaries of this state action.
And just who are the ultimate beneficiaries of this state action, the Foreclosure Auction?
The answer to that question is not at all clear at this point in time. But one thing is certain, it’s not local Realtors. It’s not local individuals, families or local communities. The homes that are the target of Final Judgments of Foreclosure are not purchased by families who become owners and move into them. Local Realtors do not market and then sell them. Local, licensed contractors do not permit, then fix them. But no one seems to care about any of this.
Instead, we get the following:
(Mr. Soviero is a bank attorney…making a case for mercy for a foreclosure defendant)
MR. SOVIERO: The defendant is from Brazil. He
16 just recently got his American citizenship. It’s a
17 very, very sad story what went on there, and I won’t
18 worry you with it.
19 But it would allow him to gather his affairs and
20 do everything that he needs to do to — he may have to
21 leave. He may have to go back home, back to Brazil.
22 If the parties have agreed to 150 days, I would
23 just —
24 THE COURT: You didn’t move the cases while you
25 were here today. A 2009 case —
2 THE COURT: We are under a mandate to get rid of
3 all of our old cases. We don’t get rid of our old
4 cases by giving you guys another 120 days. 150 days
5 is the new year, is when this is going to happen, if,
6 in fact, it’s still sitting in the — and then if you
7 want to top that one off, I had somebody come in that
8 Judge Colton had given 120 days to. I’ve had five of
9 them in the last two weeks asking for another 90,
10 okay? That’s not how the system has to work. They
11 can dismiss the case as far as I’m concerned.
12 But I don’t know what the sad story is, but 150
13 days is outrageous.
14 MR. WASYLIK: Your Honor, with respect to the
15 concern the Court’s just expressed about asking for
16 successor extensions, I know how the Court feels about
17 that and to the extent that it would help mitigate
18 those concerns by writing into the judgment no further
19 extensions of sale —
20 THE COURT: You guys never tell me that and I
21 then have to look it up and find it. I told a room
22 full yesterday, the next one I find like that, you’re
23 going straight to the Bar.
24 MR. WASYLIK: I saw that on Monday, Your Honor.
25 I understand how seriously you take that, which is why
1 I want to put it in writing in this file so that
2 there’s no question.
3 THE COURT: Well, you’re not — once you tell me
4 how many days — and I’m going to require you, in this
5 case, if you actually come to court and ask for an
6 extension from any judge that’s sitting in any bench
7 in foreclosure and not tell them that you’ve already
8 been given 150 days, then I am going to send you to
9 the Bar, all right?
10 I want this thing wrapped up, and you don’t — do
11 not extend these things to 150 days. And the next
12 time I find you doing it with a senior judge, I am
13 going to go back and get the judgment and I’m going to
14 change it. I’m going to vacate that judgment, and I’m
15 going to enter the one that’s supposed to be done and
16 you would have been given 60 days to get out of the
17 house. I normally only give 35. When you consent, I
18 give you 60, all right?
19 From now on, do not do that. It’s wrong, first
20 of all, on so many levels of having sat in this
21 courtroom. I’ll leave it for this case today. Do not
22 ever do it again. If I see either one of your — all
23 of your faces in a courtroom asking for 120 days any
24 time going forward of any judge, I’m going to send you
25 to the Bar, okay?
1 You now have a complete understanding of what
2 this vision is about. We’re moving cases out the
3 door, not prolonging them in the court system, all
4 right? Have a good day.
