It cannot be disputed now that the banks and corporate interests performed a skillful attack on our nation’s judicial system. Nowhere is this more apparent and more dramatic than here in the State of Florida.
Through the bank settlements…and specifically in a piece of legislation/law known as Senate Bill 1852, the banks paid off the federal government, then paid down to have a court system that would serve their interests. And the interests of the banks is for “our” court system to look the other way so that foreclosures could be more expeditiously processed. Now in order to do so, courts would need to look the other way and ignore a whole range of systematically fradulent business practices. Courts would need to consent and affirm fraud and forgery. Read the specific language from Florida Senate Bill 1852:
Section 2. The nonrecurring sum of $5,262,579 is appropriated from theGeneral Revenue Fund to the state courts system to provide technology solutions that expedite foreclosure cases through the judicial process. Such technology solutions must enable judges and staff to effectively use electronic documents when disposing of foreclosure cases, produce orders electronically, provide for electronic calendaring, serve orders electronically, and generate case management reports.
Section 3. The nonrecurring sum of $16 million is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the state courts system to provide supplemental resources, including, but not limited to, additional senior judge days and temporary case management staff in the trial courts to reduce the backlog of pending foreclosure cases.
Section 4. The nonrecurring sum of $9.7 million is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the clerks of the court to enhance levels of service to assist and support the courts in expediting the processing of backlogged foreclosure cases.
The legislature passing a law, and providing the funding, which is used to so blatantly tip the scales against an entire class of litigants appearing before courts sets a dangerous precedent. What’s next…do the private prison companies make their contracts contingent upon senior judges being hired to “expedite” bond hearings? Do the payment processing companies in family law companies get to make their contracts contingent upon senior judges being hired to “expedite” child support delinquency cases? It’s a dangerous conflict of interest.
Take a look at a recent interview by David Dayen which expresses how bad this all is and keep in mind that from my perspective things are now worse than ever. The real question…and the reason for my persistent and ongoing concern is the fact that all of this contributes to ongoing discontent and challenge to all authority and especially to government and our judicial system:
