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.
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.