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All across this State of Florida, there are consumers who go walking into courtrooms for foreclosure trials or Summary Judgment and do so without an attorney.

There are two very important things happening in courtrooms right now, right this minute, in the middle of Florida’s Great Foreclosure Purge of 2013.

The first thing is judges are moving cases toward resolution at speeds far greater than has ever before occurred.  It’s a tidal wave of foreclosure actions that is ripping across Florida like a wildfire.  And as in any great fury, there are mistakes being made…..many of them.

But far worse than the outcome for consumers who go into court without an attorney and see first hand that they are losing their homes are the consumers who do not have any notice that they are losing their homes….

Very bad things are happening every day.  And worse things are happening every day.

Homeowners, many who are making modifications or who settled their debts, are going to lose their homes.

And We Were All Warned of This Long In Advance.

 

One Comment

  • Anonymous Poster says:

    In an ideal world all clients pay their bills in full and bring you documents timely so that you have adequate time to prepare.

    But the foreclosure world is not an ideal world. MANY homeowners who havent made any mortgage payment in years, so are living nearly expense free for housing, are foregoing seeing lawyers due to them not ponying up the money. Even more wait to do something until absolute last minute, and sometimes nothing can be done for them at that point.

    Yourself and I know that any lawyer would jump to make a few hundred bucks to defend a MSJ hearing. The bottom line is that most clients are simply unwilling to pay the attorney their fee and go pro se. It is not because there is not an abundant number of attorneys available with knowledge of foreclosure willing to go to court. It is because the people are electing to not spend money on a lawyer, period.

    It is not because the judges are forcing cases to trial/judgment as the above siggests, which they are, but this has no bearing on people not being responsible and retaining counsel. I see many homeowners daily at the back of the courtroom every single time I am there who clearly got noticed and chose to show up on their own (or think they know more than the bank lawyers and lose). I rarely see hearings go forward without one party there, and judges (at least in the few counties I am in) RARELY go forward with a hearing without an opposing party; and are very particular to check service of documents and notices being sent out, especially pro se parties. Obviously no system is 100% and the judge cannot require absolute proof of mailing and receipt, but I don’t see masse pro se cases with no homeowner there.

    I have gotten plenty of calls from clients who got copies of a pleadings I didn’t get for whatever reason or mis-service. Clearly pleadings and notices are being served on the borrowers properly, so I think this is a lame duck excuse to pass the blame.

    This one is on the borrowers themselves and the bulk of the blame is squarely on their shoulders when the resources are available.

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