PB Post: Termina el Programa de Mediación para Ejecuciones Hipotecarias de Florida

Admitting failure, Florida Supreme Court ends foreclosure mediation program

By JEFF OSTROWSKI

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Posted: 5:40 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, 2011

Florida's foreclosure crisis lives on, but a statewide mediation program for troubled borrowers is dead.

Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Canady issued an order Monday ending the effort to encourage lenders and borrowers to avoid foreclosure.

The program was a flop. Only 3.6 percent of cases referred to mediation statewide yielded a written agreement between the lender and homeowner. In Palm Beach County, which began its program in July 2010, a mere 1.6 percent of the 4,632 cases sent to mediation resulted in a written agreement.

Often, lenders couldn't even reach borrowers to propose mediation. Of 78,076 cases referred to mediation statewide, lenders managed to get in touch with just 42 percent of borrowers.

"The court has reviewed the reports on the program and determined it cannot justify continuation of the program," Canady wrote.

Lenders and borrowers can continue to haggle over loans already in the mediation program, but it will take on no new cases, he said.

Lenders blamed economic reality for the program's failure. Home prices have plummeted and jobless rates have soared since the real estate bubble burst, creating financial obstacles that were just too great for many to overcome, said Anthony DiMarco, executive vice president of government affairs at the Florida Bankers Association.

Propietarios en apuros se benefician con fallo de la corte en Florida

Struggling homeowners gain favor in key ruling

By KIMBERLY MILLER

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 9:10 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011

Posted: 9:08 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011

Home­owners in foreclosure may have a better chance of getting a true trial, instead of a quickie judgment, following a 4th District Court of Appeal decision that requires banks to prove ownership of the note at the time they file for repossession.

The ruling Wednesday in Palm Beach County was heralded by foreclosure defense attorneys who said it may even force banks to dismiss some cases and start over with new paperwork.

Tom Ice, founder of the Royal Palm Beach-based foreclosure defense firm Ice Legal, called the decision a "sea change" in the way courts are looking at foreclosure cases and the importance of assignments of mortgage.

"No longer can banks just walk in and have their attorney wave around a piece of paper saying this is the note," Ice said. "The good news for homeowners is now they have an opportunity to prove their case and get a trial on its merits."

The 4th DCA ruling follows a rare Florida Supreme Court decision last week to take up an already settled Greenacres foreclosure case that involved an allegedly backdated assignment of mortgage that the bank used to show ownership. The court said it wanted to rule on the case, in which the homeowner was defended by Ice's firm, because its opinion could have an impact on the "mortgage foreclosure crisis throughout the state."

Wednesday's ruling was on the case of Robert McLean vs. JPMorgan Chase, and involved a 2009 Broward County foreclosure.