A real area of systemic abuse in the foreclosure court are overcharges for services that are routinely and regularly added into foreclosure final judgments.
This is another one of the profoundly serious issues that we’ve been raising for some time and now judges across the state are paying attention to this issue.
If just a few hundred dollars are added into each of the 69,000 foreclosure judgments that have been disposed of in this state in the last several months, just think of how much money we’re talking about…..and I believe the number overcharged is routinely thousands of dollars more and it affects hundreds of thousands of dollars in judgments…..NOW WE’RE TALKING ABOUT REAL MONEY THAT’S BEEN ROBBED….. Talk about defendants being robbed of due process, talk about a violation of fundamental rights, talk about a massive amount of additional money being stolen….stolen…cheated…stolen….
“I don’t want to throw anybody in jail, but I’m getting really angry, and I’m not going to tolerate it anymore,” Gardner said. “I want some answers. This stuff isn’t getting through on my watch.”
At least two of the cases Gardner flagged involve Florida Default Law Group in Tampa, which is under state investigation.
Consider this case.
The process server, Firefly Legal, served two named defendants in Land O’ Lakes in August 2009. The invoice reflects that both defendants were served, but it also included charges for two unknown spouses and for two unknown tenants, even though none of those four people were found, according to court documents. Three days later, the invoice shows, the process server attempted to serve the main defendants and unknown spouses again ““ this time in Indiana.
The total bill was $1,633.50. Gardner says a reasonable fee for this case would be $175.