I woke this morning to read a just issued court Order which reads like a partisan manifesto against foreclosure defense. This long and detailed order makes many, many findings of fact and bends and twists to fit those facts into many different interpretations of law. The order cites cases from long, long ago and from far, far away. It’s quite incredible to read on order that cites case law from different states…especially when there’s a real deep body of case law from right here in the circuit. And one’s legal analysis radar really start going off when an order is buried deep citing cases from decades ago….just after the turn of the century. No, not this century, but the early 1900’s.
My read of this order gives me very serious concerns about whether defendants in foreclosure will get a fair and impartial shot before the court. But this order is just another example of an alarming…and growing trend….I read in this order, and see in many policies currently being implemented in courts across the state, a real tilt in the balance of foreclosure, with courts deciding that they must
CLEAR THE FORECLOSURE BACKLOG!
And the easiest way to do this is to grant as many foreclosure judgments as possible….as quickly as possible. I am trying to confirm that there is a real deadline to clear cases and report back to the paymasters in Tallahassee no later than June 1. If in fact this is true, it’s most incredible, and most concerning from a Constitutional perspective. If in fact the parties in lawsuits provided money that flows to our allegedly fair and balanced courts….I’m speaking specifically of the $5 million dollars provided by The Banks as part of the AG settlement…and if in fact “our” courts are using this money to fund foreclosure rocket dockets which are resulting in a grossly disproportionate number of foreclosure final judgments, does this not look like those who are benefiting from this new court fury have in fact paid, directly, for the outcome they’re getting?
What if the drug cartels, as part of their plea deals with government attorneys, agreed to pay $5 million in fines. And what if government officials announced they were spending that money specifically on drug courts, hiring special judges and staff. And then what if we found out that these new courts were told, very specifically to,
CLEAR 30% OF THOSE DAMNED DRUG CASES BY JUNE 1!
And then what if, immediately thereafter, tens of thousands of those drug cases were unilaterally set for trial or disposition by the court. And when the prosecutors walked into court they found that nothing they said would prevent the judge from dismissing drug cases, one after the other, en masse? And what if the defense attorneys really didn’t have to do anything…they just stand there letting the court walk them through how the court wanted to help them get their case dismissed…overlooking real problems with their cases that would surely result in at least some convictions?
Well, that’s certainly what foreclosure courtrooms are starting to look like in this state. And that presents very troubling questions about the independence and impartiality of Florida’s entire judicial system.
Consumers had better WAKE UP! And smell the acrid smoke of their faded delusions of security burning right in front of their faces. Consumers…and frankly attorneys…have been living a delusion for far too long, thinking that they were living protected and safe just because their foreclosure cases were not moving. If consumers….or attorneys for that matter…think they’re going to march into courtrooms and scream
FRAUD, ROBOSIGNING, POST DATED ASSIGNMENT
And think that’s going to matter in most courtrooms, they really are delusional. As I said, time to WAKE UP!
Attorneys are starting to get mass Notices of Trial, and I’m certain this is happening to consumers as well. And I’m really concerned about the numbers of consumers who will get these notices and ignore them or worse yet, those who don’t get them at all. Their realization that things have gone really wrong will be the knock at the door from the sheriff that comes to evict them.
Terrifying times.
(And to those who want to see the order and who want more specifics out of me, remember, I have suffered formal prosecution for daring to exercise my First Amendment rights and threatened with more punishment after being reminded that “there are limits on an attorney’s First Amendment rights” …huh? to this day, I still shake my head at that. I have a very fine line to navigate here on this blog…I frankly think that my only real security is that if they really came after me, I’d really unload and that I’d be far more dangerous if they turned me out and made a real martyr out of me…so they let me dance on this fine line, where I’m too vague to cause real damage…….for now)
