My concerns about the foreclosure crisis extend far beyond what is happening to homeowners in foreclosure. The larger and far more troubling issues of concern I have is how the Legislature (pushed by business interests) is in turn bullying and pushing the judicial branch to solve the problem they’ve created. Heretofore, no one seems particularly concerned that in order to accomplish this goal, judges may be required to toss fundamental procedural and even Constitutional rights out the window.
I have been articulating these concerns very specifically, and I want everyone to consider the two documents attached below in the context of these concerns. In the first document, read how the Legislative pressure (bullying on behalf of banks) is explicitly asserted:
” The Legislature said we’ll never get out of the housing slump if houses are sitting out there vacant.”
(Again I ask my question, what will we do if all the 559,945 foreclosures were concluded tomorrow? Who’s going to qualify for mortgages to buy those homes? What’s the point of foreclosure if you can’t repopulate those foreclosed homes?)
And now we get acknowledgment of a major issue that potentially infects a huge portion of the 559,945 foreclosure cases pending…
” I’ve read about some claims of fraud on the part of lenders. And, of course, it only becomes an issue if it’s pled in the case. I like to hope if there’s any fraud, that it wouldn’t be widespread. . . . I mention that because it’s a variable, and I don’t know if it will be a factor.”
(Perhaps the good judge has read about the allegations of fraud that are incorporated into the Florida Attorney General’s active investigations of the foreclosure mills? More importantly, I am of the opinion that the judicial branch cannot bury it’s judicial head into the sand and ignore these allegations of widespread fraud with the whole, “it’s only an issue if it’s pled” rationale. One of the many problems with this flawed rationale is judgments entered by the court based on fraud are subject to attack for a year and in some cases FOREVER. Next, if ANY fraud exists and it is being perpetuated in our courtrooms, allowing ANY of it to continue is a major crisis for the judicial branch.)
And next a very interesting phenomena that we’re all going to be looking at for some years to come….
“Another delaying factor is that lenders are asking to postpone sales dates on foreclosed properties. What we’ve been hearing is that the banks are causing a lot of the slowdown.”
Two issues. First, soon, the banks that may have been pushing to speed these cases up are going to start howling that they want this process to slow down…we’ve seen this for some months now. Next, what our courts really need to focus on is the number of cases that were filed then just abandoned by the foreclosure mill. I’ve started with a good sample in Pinellas County and these cases offer very troubling indications that something was wrong with these cases from the outset and that much of the foreclosure docket is polluted by putrid pleadings. I urge the courts across the state to be focused on this issue. While I am totally opposed to the Legislature forcing the judicial hand with their 62% number, I am fairly certain that a big chunk of that number could be met next month by examining the stalled files closely then dismissing those cases where threshold burdens of pleading and evidence have not been produced.
So enough of my editorializing, here is the article:
And finally, please read an important case that calls into question the whole senior judge system as it is currently being implemented.
