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.

Juez de Palm Beach niega al Procurador General pedido sobre "Foreclosure Mills"

Palm Beach judge denies state's request in "foreclosure mill firm" case
Ruling says Florida Bar and courts, not state regulators, have jurisdiction

Diane C. Lade
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
1:41 PM EDT, October 14, 2010

A Palm Beach County judge will not allow the Florida Attorney General's request for
documents that would bolster its investigation of one of the state's largest foreclosure law
firms, saying The Florida Bar and the courts were responsible for regulating attorneys.
Circuit Judge Jack S. Cox on Thursday denied the state's request for a rehearing on the case involving Shapiro & Fishman, of Boca Raton, one of three South Florida foreclosure firms under state investigation since August. Two of the three have been fighting the Attorney General Bill McCollum's original subpoenas for extensive documents involving the firms employees, investments and clients over the past five years.
Gerald Richman, the attorney representing Shapiro & Fishman, had filed a motion to quash the subpoenas, arguing McCollum had no jurisdiction. Cox agreed last week, adding the request was overbroad, vague and unduly burdensome.

Apelan fallo en caso Shapiro & Fishman LLP y otros abogados investigados

Attorney General Bill McCollum News Release

October 11, 2010
Media Contact: Jennifer Krell Davis
Phone: (850) 245-0150

Procurador General presenta solicitud de reconsideración del fallo judicial en la investigación Shapiro & Fishman

El Procurador General Bill McCollum apeló hoy el fallo de la semana pasada del Juez de Circuito, Judge Cox, que determina que el Procurador General no puede investigar el bufete Shapiro & Fishman por su presunta participación en la presentación ante la justicia de documentos falsos en acciones de ejecución hipotecaria con el fin de obtener sentencias definitivas contra los propietarios. El Procurador General está investigando actualmente cuatro bufetes, The Law Offices de Marshall C. Watson, P.A.; Shapiro & Fishman, LLP, The Law Offices de David J. Stern, P.A., y Florida Default Law Group, PL por la supuesta implementación de estas prácticas.

Investigación de Procurador General de la Florida afectada por juez

AG investigation into foreclosure law firms dealt blow
October 04, 2010
By: Julie Kay

Palm Beach Circuit judge dealt a blow today to Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum’s investigation of foreclosure law firms by quashing a subpoena issued to one of the firms.

Judge Jack Cox in a sharply worded order said it’s up to the Florida Supreme Court and The Florida Bar to regulate attorneys, not the attorney general. He also called the attorney general’s subpoena of Shapiro & Fishman “overbroad, vague, inconsistent and unduly burdensome.” McCollum’s office had no immediate response.

The office had subpoenaed three of the state’s largest foreclosure law firms — the Law Offices of David Stern in Plantation, the Shapiro firm with offices in Boca Raton and Tampa, and the Law Offices of Marshall Watson in Fort Lauderdale — as part of a wider investigation into foreclosure firms.

Critics including consumer advocate groups and foreclosure defense firms have alleged the firms targeted by McCollum’s office filed incorrect or even phony paperwork to achieve foreclosure judgments in the state courts. The plaintiff law firms have denied wrongdoing.

Abogados reclaman pedido del Procurador General

Lawyers fight AG inquiry
10/02/2010 © Miami Herald
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA
tolorunnipa@MiamiHerald.com

South Florida law firms being investigated for shady foreclosure practices are fighting back by challenging the attorney general's jurisdiction, refusing to cooperate with parts of the probe and gearing up for a legal showdown.

A Palm Beach County judge is expected to rule Monday on a motion by Shapiro & Fishman of Boca Raton to "quash" the subpoena issued in August by Attorney General Bill McCollum. The motion calls the investigative subpoena "overly broad, unreasonable and unduly burdensome." The subpoena demands the firms -- Shapiro, the Law Offices of David J. Stern and the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson -- turn over five years worth of documents and e-mails, and copies of all contracts between the law firm and the lenders that hired it to handle their foreclosures.

The Law Offices of David J. Stern has decided to partially cooperate, its legal counsel said. The Plantation-based firm handed over some of the requested documents to the attorney's general office, but not all of them, according to Miami attorney Jeffery Tew, who represents Stern's firm. Tew said he believed that the attorney general's subpoena was too broad, but that Stern's firm had provided three years worth of documents that were relevant to the investigation.

Jueces en Florida niegan casos a favor de bancos

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Florida’s Kangaroo Foreclosure Courts: Judges Denying Due Process on Behalf of Banks

Florida is ground zero of the foreclosure crisis. In addition to being one of the epicenters of the housing meltdown, it has also become the jurisdiction where local lawyers have been the most effective overall in unearthing how servicers and foreclosure mills have engaged in widespread document fabrications and use of improper affidavits to foreclose.

This abuse of contracts and legal procedures matters because the courts are the last bastion of defense of the individual. Even libertarians, who keenly oppose government mission creep, give courts an elevated role as a protector of rights.

Given the success that local attorneys are having (it has reached the point where the state attorney general’s office has opened an investigation into three so-called foreclosure mills operating in the state), pushback by the mortgage industrial complex was inevitable. The old saw about “best government money can buy” now looks to apply to the courts, the one area most people assume to be relatively free from tampering by well funded interests.

The New York Times did report on this development, but its account was such a pale version of what is happening on the ground as to give readers a distorted picture.

These new foreclosure-only courts are special creations of the Florida legislature, funded separately from the usual court system. They are manned by retired judges, which means in many cases they are not familiar with real estate law.

NYT: Florida tiene una respuesta rápida al desastre hipotecario

September 4, 2010

Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON and GERALDINE FABRIKANT

TEN days from now, a four-bedroom house on a cul-de-sac in Middleburg, Fla., is scheduled to be auctioned off at the Clay County courthouse, 25 miles south of Jacksonville.

A judge who recently took over their foreclosure case has ordered Rodney Waters; his fiancée, Terri Reese; and their four children to leave the home they bought in 2006.

Mr. Waters, a supervisor at a local packaging company and the family’s sole breadwinner, fell behind on his mortgage two years ago after his property taxes jumped unexpectedly. He now owes $264,000 on the house; a similar home down the street sold for $138,500 in February.

The predicament of the Waters-Reese family is common in Florida today. The state routinely sets new records for foreclosures — in the second quarter, 20.13 percent of its mortgages were delinquent or in foreclosure, a national high, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And with housing prices still in a free fall, almost half of all borrowers in Florida owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, says CoreLogic, a data firm.

Investigan bufetes de abogados de ejecuciones hipotecarias

Attorney General Bill McCollum News Release

August 10, 2010
Media Contact: Jennifer Krell Davis
Phone: (850) 245-0150

Bufetes de abogados de Florida reciben citación judicial por presentar documentación para ejecuciones hipotecarias

TALLAHASSEE (FL) – El Procurador General, Bill McCollum, anunció hoy que su oficina inició tres investigaciones nuevas sobre las imputaciones de acciones desleales y engañosas por parte de bufetes de Florida que manejaban casos de ejecución hipotecaria. La División de Delitos Económicos del Procurador General está investigando si se presentó documentación inadecuada ante los tribunales de Florida para acelerar los procesos de ejecución hipotecaria, posiblemente sin el consentimiento de los propietarios.

Las investigaciones nuevas nombran a Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson, P.A.; Shapiro & Fishman, LLP; y a Law Offices of David J. Stern, P.A. Los bufetes fueron contratados por prestamistas para iniciar el proceso de ejecución hipotecaria cuando los consumidores estuvieran atrasados en el pago de sus hipotecas.

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