With all this talk from The Florida Legislature about “Doing Something About Foreclosures“, I was reminded that I’ve provided practical solutions to Florida’s foreclosure problems for years now.
The fact of the matter is of the approximately 368,000 foreclosure cases that are pending in Florida, a recognizable chunk of them should properly be dismissed because the Plaintiffs made the decision not to follow the long-established rules of court. I frankly cannot understand why our courts have not been more assertive in policing their own dockets through these rules.
The rules are simple and clear, and if they were followed, a good chunk of the cases could be eaten into in a real brief period of time. And as an added benefit our courts would be buoyed with additional court funding.
The first and most important one that has been widely ignored is the following:
Florida Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 1.110:
When filing an action for foreclosure of a mortgage on residential real property the complaint shall be verified. When verification of a document is required, the document filed shall include an oath, affirmation, or the following statement:
” Under penalty of perjury, I declare that I have read the foregoing, and the facts alleged therein are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.”
As we all know, the rule has been ignored. The penalty should be to dismiss the cases and force them to start again….with new filing fee…
Posts and examples below: