Across this state law firms are pushing foreclosures and judges are throwing their neighbors into the streets. I’m convinced that in a portion of these cases, the foreclosure mills that are pursuing these cases have no real contact with the clients who might have directed them to file the foreclosure case at one point in time and even if they do, I’m convinced that many of these Plaintiffs have no right to obtain a foreclosure judgment, much less the property or the proceeds from the sale of the property.
Based on a variety of investigations and depositions of mortgage and foreclosure mill players, there is good reason to suspect that in a large percentage of foreclosure cases filed by the mills, the Assignments of Mortgages, endorsements and affidavits the Plaintiffs need to win their case are nothing but form documents that have been produced by word processors and executed by RoboSigners…there is little if any personal knowledge or actual authority to prepare the documents that our elected judges use to justify throwing their neighbors into the street. How many foreclosure judgments continue to be granted based on faulty evidence when the Plaintiff has no right to obtain foreclosure and how many foreclosure sales will continue to be granted based on flawed evidence?
THREE FAILED FORECLOSURE CASES- THE SOLUTION TO PINELLAS COUNTY’S FORECLOSURE BACKLOG
While cases where homeowners are being thrown into the streets are clearly the most troubling, I’m also very interested in a very disturbing phenomena I’ve recently discovered and that is the number of foreclosure cases that have been filed and later abandoned by the foreclosure mill that filed the case. Given what we now know about faked, forged, fraudulent endorsements, assignments and affidavits, I have real questions about whether the Plaintiff had the right to file these cases in the first place and even if they did, why did the foreclosure mill just abandon these cases?
Totally by chance, I stumbled across the three homes below which are found in St. Petersburg, Florida’s finest neighborhood, Snell Isle. The homes are within a few blocks from one another and they are surrounded by multi-million dollar homes. There was no method to my search, I just found three homes that were clearly abandoned, yards that were an eyesore. I assumed they were in foreclosure and pulled the court docket. These are just examples, but their are thousands of homes like this lingering in communities all across America. These three are examples of the failures of the foreclosure mills and case studies in a judicial system that has not been is not funded or equipped to deal with the foreclosure mess that has been dumped in our courtrooms. If there are this many like cases in such a prestigous neighborhood, how many similar cases are pending across this county? Across this state?
A Solution to This County’s Foreclosure Backlog and An Important Counter Point to Incorrect Information and Misinformation From The Florida Legislature
When the Florida legislature places pressure on our courts and our judges to clear the foreclosure docket, they fail to take into account the vast number of cases like the three below that are failed and clogging the docket not because of pesky foreclosure defense attorneys like me or inefficiency on the part of our judges. Pinellas County’s Chief Judge reports that there are 33,000 foreclosure cases that are pending in Pinellas County. I suspect that a big chunk of those cases can be properly shown as dismissed based on the Orders that are entered in this case, thus fulfilling the Supreme Court’s mandate to “Clear That Foreclosure Docket- Let’s clear 62% of these stalled cases!” The good news is these cases are dismissed. They are no longer clogging our court dockets and they’re not the problem of our overwhelmed judges. These abandoned homes are problems and liabilities that the foreign investment firms that lied and committed the fraud and wizardry that brought this country to the brink of ruin. If the anonymous, amorphous and ill-defined Plaintiffs want to pursue their cases, all they’ve got to do is pay the filing fee and get the case started again. They get the chance to get their documents together (real documents prepared by whomever might really own the mortgage, not fake, forged, fraudulent documents prepared by the attorneys.) And here’s the multi-million dollar benefit for taxpayers, voters and local constituents who have the most invested in this community and in their court system….
IF THE LENDERS DO DECIDE TO REFILE THE FORECLOSURE CASE THAT THEY LET DIE, THE NET BENEFIT TO THIS COMMUNITY IS TENS, PERHAPS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN NEW REVENUE FOR OUR OVERWHELMED COURT BUDGETS
And here they are, the three cases that represent Pinellas County’s solution to the foreclosure crisis
Bank of New York V. Elizabeth Drumm 08010341CI– The picture below is one of a home that is in foreclosure, but that has been abandoned by the foreclosure mill that filed the case. The grass is two feet high, the home is a mess, it is an eyesore and a danger to the neighborhood. In July 2008 a foreclosure mill filed the foreclosure lawsuit on this home. The Defendant never filed a single piece of paper and did nothing whatsoever in this case and so, in December 2009, pursuant to a court order, the case was dismissed. Nothing new happened in this case until May 2010 when the foreclosure mill threw a piece of paper in the file. Why did the foreclosure mill not pursue this case in the more than two years since it was filed? Why did the foreclosure mill not file any pleading, motion or paper to try and vacate the dismissal? Who owns the mortgage on this home? Now here’s where it will get interesting….who will pay the property taxes on this property when they come due? Who will pay the thousands of dollars in municipal fines that are accruing on this home?
Bank of America v. Comstock09002491CI- This home is immediately across the street from the first one….a strange coincidence, but there are many such cases across our community. This case was filed February 2009 a Voluntary Dismissal was filed May 2009 but just for good measure a Notice of Dismissal for Failure to Serve was filed August 201o and the case will again(?) be dismissed October 2010. This case begs the question….how can a case be dismissed when it has already be dismissed? It’s a disaster and an irritation to the neighbors and the community.
Taylor Bean and Whitaker v. Haobsh Yahia 09012720CI– Filed July 2009, dismissed January 2010. Stalled, case, overgrown lawn, no additional action from the Plaintiff for the entire 8 months of 2010. Again, a home in Pinellas County’s premier neighborhood. One needn’t think too hard about what the neighbors think about this case. Consider the Plaintiff here, TBW, committed gross fraud and abuses, stole hundreds of millions of dollars from US taxpayers now those same US taxpayers are looking at this home with two foot high grass.
So there it is. The solution to the backlogged foreclosure docket in Florida. Our elected judges show the dismissed cases dismissed, then there is nothing left to do with the cases, but check off the Final Disposition for on the case, change the code on the database and the case is dismissed. If the Yankee bankers and Wall Street wizards want to take action on the case, they just pay the fee, re-file the case and get started once again. This is not just following the law or the rules or the way things should operate, there are important equitable principles at play here.
Above and beyond the equitable principles at play, there are important legal issues at play. When a case is dismissed, the case is dismissed. The court no longer has jurisdiction over the case and the court can no longer enter any Order in the case that is not void or voidable for lack of jurisdiction. See the draft of the case, below:
And just for good measure, here’s another post on another home in the neighborhood…..have a look.