News

For those of you who have been following this issue, the sponsors of HB87 and SB1666 are trying hard to get these bills passed.  As I have already blogged about, these bills are blatantly unconstitutional and give the banks all of the power. There is a great editorial in the Miami Herald today addressing this issue.  We elect our representatives in Tallahassee to represent the people of the great State of Florida, not the interests of big banks.

The amount of fraud committed by banks is well documented and these bills are a great way for the bank to keep their fraud under wraps and not have it come to light in the court system.  The irony here is that the $26 billion fraud settlement with the feds and the states is being partly used to fund a system that the banks can push foreclosures through faster.  So, although that settlement was sold as a great thing for homeowners, some of that money is being used to rush foreclosures through without homeowners getting a chance to challenge the bank’s evidence.

This is not the American was of jurisprudence and I encourage everyone to contact their representatives and voice their opposition.

Read the article in the Miami Herald here.

Tags: Banks Florida, Banks Power, Challenge Bank, Editorial, Feds, Florida Legislature, Foreclosures, Fraud Settlement, HB87, Irony, Jurisprudence, Miami Hearld, Miami Herald, Money, People, Running, SB1666, State Florida, State Of Florida, Tallahassee, Voice Their Opposition, Wraps

The Palm Beach Post ran a story today on the foreclosure backlog that exists in Florida.  The banks are crying foul that foreclosure are taking so long, but the reality is that the banks themselves are dragging things out.  Their paperwork is a disaster but they have not one to blame but themselves.  Second. if they end up owning the property, then they have to start paying the homeowners’ associations’ fees and they have to start maintaining the property.  They don’t want that either.

What the banks want is to push foreclosures through without anyone putting them under a microscope.  Well, I have news for you, that’s the American way.  In this country, no one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.  No one I know thinks that homeowners should get a free ride, and most homeowners are not asking for that.   Almost all of our clients simply want a mortgage payment they can afford.  The banks however are unwilling to work with hundreds of thousands of homeowners in this country.

House Bill 87 is the perfect solution for banks.   They can obtain a foreclosure so fast that the homeowner will not have time to mount what may otherwise be a valid defense.  This is a travesty of justice and very un-American.  We could simply say that since the homeowner is not paying, we should just push them out into the streets with their kids without giving them their day in court.  If you are not behind on your mortgage that may be a solution you can live with.  How about next we move onto traffic tickets.  Since the officer gave a ticket, the person must be guilty, so why give them their day in court.  I’ll best most people reading this blog have received a ticket that they did not agree with.  Maybe next, we’ll move onto more serious crimes.  Since so-and-so got arrested, they must be guilty, so let’s just punish them and save the money on prosecution.  This argument is a slippery slope.

The article in the post states “Banks are the biggest barriers to speeding the foreclosure process in Florida because they let cases linger in the courts and continue to present flawed documents, the state courts administrator told a Senate subcommittee this week.”  So, the problem is not the homeowners, its the banks.  That’s straight from the court administrator’s mouth.  So, why the push in Florida to punish the homeowners? I guess its lobbyists and campaign contributions.  My message to all Florida state senators and representatives is that you are there to represent the people and defend the constitution, please do the right thing and not do the bidding of the banks.

What can you do?  Contact your elected state officials today and tell them to vote no on HB87 and stand up for the rights of struggling Florida citizens.  You can look up your representative here.

If you are facing foreclosure in Florida, HB87 may allow the courts to throw your family on the street without due process of law, especially if you have no attorney.  Contact a qualified foreclosure defense attorney today.  We offer free consultations for foreclosure defense in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach.

Tags: attorney, Backlog, Broward, Country House, Dade, Disaster, Due Process Of Law, Florida Banks, foreclosure, Foreclosure Defense, Foreclosures, Free Ride, HB87, Homeowners Associations, house bill 87, Hundreds Of Thousands, Life Liberty, Miami, Microscope, Mortgage Payment, Palm Beach, Palm Beach Post, Paperwork, Perfect Solution, Prosecution, Serious Crimes, Slippery Slope

The Florida (Un)Fair Foreclosure Act has has reared its ugly head once again.  If this passes, it will be pretty solid evidence that the Florida judicial system is up for sale to the highest bidder.  The banks are once again trying to have the court ram through foreclosure without looking at the evidence.  Banks have settled lawsuits by state and federal governments for tens of billions of dollars for flat out fraud, yet they want to seem like the victims in foreclosure cases.

The United State Constitution and the Florida Constitution give all litigants the right to due process of law.  In Florida, a plaintiff, whether the bank or anyone else, must prove its case in court.  With this bill, it will up to the homeowner to disprove the bank’s case.  This would be an unprecedented step.

If this bill becomes law, a bank will file its foreclosure action and then the court will set up a show cause hearing for the homeowner to prove what the bank alleges is not true.

Yes, that’s right, the bank will not have to prove what the bank says is true, the homeowner will have to disprove the bank’s allegations.  You can read the bill for yourself here.

I have never heard of a worse example of due process violations, not in this country anyway.  Who could possibly assume that the bank would be telling the truth?  Look at the evidence; tens of billions of dollars of fraud settlements, the implosion of bank law firms, such as David Stern, Marshall Watson, and Ben-Ezra & Katz, and whiste-blowers who have come forward to make these illegal practices known.

Even murderers, rapists and thieves get due process of law.  Homeowners are being treated worse than known criminals. Even criminals have the right to due process and have their accusers prove their case.  Don’t law abiding, tax paying homeowners deserve at the same rights as criminals?

Why are banks being given special treatment?  Let’s face it, in this country money is power, and banks literally have all of the money.  So what can you, a tax-paying citizen of Florida who elects your representatives into the legislature in Tallahassee?   You can vote and you have a voice.  Call you representative and senator and tell them you oppose banks taking over our judicial system and stepping on the constitutional rights of those who elected them.

Please click here to sign this petition to the powers that be in Tallahassee that the citizens of this great state will not tolerate the banks running our judicial system and we expect our elected representatives to uphold the rule of law and citizens’ Due Process rights.

Also, you can call your House Representative and State Senator to voice your opposition.  Click here to find your representative’s contact information.

Don’t face foreclosure alone.  Call one of our foreclosure attorneys in Broward, Miami-Dade, or Palm Beach for your free consultation.

Tags: Bill Becomes Law, David Stern, Due Process Of Law, Fair Act, Federal Governments, Florida Constitution, Florida Courts, florida fair foreclosure act, Florida Foreclosure, Florida Judicial System, Foreclosure Action, Foreclosure Cases, Highest Bidder, Illegal Practices, Implosion, Litigants, Rapists, Right To Due Process, Show Cause Hearing, State Constitution, Telling The Truth, Ugly Head, United State, Unprecedented Step

This is amazing news.  Foreclosure mill lawyer Marshall Watson has agreed to a 91 day suspension of his law license for failing to properly supervise the lawyers in his office who were committing unethical acts.  Frankly, it sounds like he is getting off easy.  However, the Florida Supreme Court still has to approve the sanction.  They could still pound him with a longer suspension if they want to.

In addition, he must pay $30,000 for record keeping analysis and $5,931 in expenses to the Florida Bar.  In addition, he has to close down his law office.

This is at least some vindication for the tens of thousands of homeowners who lost their homes at the hands of this law firm.  Of course, Marshall Watson has probably made millions and he’ll be ok financially.

Maybe the judges who look past the misdeeds of the banks and their lawyers will start paying attention.

Read the article from the Palm Beast Post here.

Tags: Amazing News, Banks, Beast, Breaking News, Course Marshall, Florida Bar, Florida Supreme Court, foreclosure, Lawyer, Lawyers, Palm, Paying Attention, Sanction, Tens Of Thousands, Unethical Acts, Vindication, Watson

One of the most common questions that our foreclosure/short sale lawyers get is whether a homeowner will be taxed for debt forgiveness in a short sale.  Basically, if you sell your primary residence for less than what is owed, you are in a short sale situation.  You could pay the difference from your pocket at closing, but then again if you have that kind of money lying around, you probably don’t need a short sale.  If you can not pay the difference you can ask your mortgage holder(s) to accept the money from the sale and write off the difference.   This difference is called the deficiency and may be taxable as ordinary income.  This can spell disaster for a homeowner.  If you have a $100,000 deficiency that was written off, you have $100,000 more in taxable income for the year.  This most likely means a higher tax bracket for all of your income and tens of thousands of dollars in extra taxes.  This would be financial devastation for most of us.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 was enacted to address this issue and was one of the most effective pieces of legislation for providing relief to homeowners.  It stated that debt forgiveness for a primary residence will not, in most circumstances, be taxable.  This has lead to a surge in short sales.  Short sales tripled within 2 years of the Act taking effect. In recent months, there has been a huge surge in short sale activity.  The National Association of Realtors reports that “Short sales from borrowers behind on their payments jumped 22 percent over last year for the three months ending Sept. 30, RealtyTrac reports.    Short sales also jumped 17 percent among borrowers who were still current on their payments.” Why is this?

Well, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 is set to expire on December 31, 2012.  What is amazing to me is that here we are on December 24, 2012 and Congress has not extended this.  From all accounts there is bipartisan support for an extension and there are lobbyists working feverishly to get this done, but with Congress on its break from work (and I use the term “work” very loosely),  this tax break is all but certain to expire.

So, what will be the effect?  Short sales will most likely grind to a halt.  Why would someone do a short sale knowing that on April 15th they will owe tend of thousands of dollars in taxes?  It would not be a wise course for most homeowners.  This would be the end of any housing recovery if one actually exists.  We would also see a big spike in bankruptcies because you can eliminate all of the mortgage debt in a bankruptcy without tax liability.   Lastly, foreclosures would clog up the courts more than they already have because people are going to fight instead of working something out.

So, Speaker Boehner, President Obama and Majority Leader Reid, I have some words for you.  Get your heads out of your respective butts and do something for this country that everyone can agree on and extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007.  I am simply amazed that they can not even get this done in Washington.  We vote them in, so we have no one else to blame.

At Loan Lawyers, our lawyers are trained to help you determine whether a short sale is right for you or if another option is more viable.   Call us to schedule a free consultation in Broward, Miami-Dade, or Palm beach with one of our attorneys.

Tags: Association Of Realtors, Attorneys, Borrowers, Broward, Circumstances, Dade, Debt Forgiveness, Debt Relief, December 31, Disaster, Financial Devastation, foreclosure, Higher Tax Bracket, Lawyers, Miami, Mortgage Debt Relief Act, Mortgage Holder, National Association Of Realtors, Palm Beach, Realtytrac, Relief Act, short sale, Tax Holiday, Taxable Income, Tens Of Thousands, Thousands Of Dollars, Three Months

Many of you know that I was in trial this morning for a Miami-Dade County foreclosure client.  The judge was the Honorable Alan Schwartz.  It was quite the show that left jaws dropping in open court.   The judge allowed the note and mortgage into evidence without objection from me.  Then the bank tried to introduce the Notice of Acceleration and the loan payment history.  I objected and asked the court to allow me to voir dire the witness prior to the introduction of the records.  This means I asked for the right to question the witness about their knowledge regarding the records keeping practices of Bank of America.   The judge did not allow me to ask any questions at this stage and allowed the documents into evidence over objection.

So, the bank rested and I got an opportunity to cross examine the witness, or so I thought.  I was barely allowed to even ask a question.   He shot me down almost every time I asked something.  When I went to put my position on the record, he would not allow me to open my mouth.  Well, I am not a wall flower, I am going to stand up for my clients.

The acceleration notice that Bank of America sent was invalid in my opinion and about a dozen other judges around the state have found in favor of the homeowner on this very issue with the same acceleration letter from Bank of America.  When I raised this to him, he could not believe that I had the audacity to actually ask him to rule in favor of my client.  He implied that he is not going to allow a homeowner to stay in their homes without paying their mortgage even if the bank screwed up.  When I asked to read the appellate opinions into the record regarding the paragraph 22 defense,  his response was basically that he did not care about the letter they sent and the fact that they filed a foreclosure action alone is good enough for him.

At that point I asked the judge to respect my client’s due process rights and pointed out that he was ignoring appellate cases from around the state.   At that point he turned to the bank’s lawyer and said “I guess I better let  Benjamin Cordozo III ask some questions”.  I took this as a personal attack on me,  so I asked the judge to recuse himself because by making that statement he showed that he could not be fair to me or my client.   He then said that I should take it as a compliment, but he clearly did not mean it as a compliment.  He meant to insult me in my opinion.  I said that not only was it not a compliment, but I believe that the court intended to slight me in the middle of trial in front of a courtroom full of people.  He was not too pleased at this point that I was standing up to him.  I started to hand write a motion to recuse him on a piece of yellow notebook paper when he then said that he would recuse himself.

Afterwards when the court reporter started to get up, he made a number of personal attacks on me.  Fortunately, the court reporter got back in her seat and got the personal attacks on the record (hopefully, I am waiting for the transcript).  At one point he even said I would have a “short and unhappy career”.  I am not sure if that was meant to be a threat or not.  Well, Your Honor, I have been practicing law for over thirteen years and, thank the Almighty above, my career has been extremely successful because I work hard, I fight for my clients, and I never roll over and play dead.

In the thousands of cases I have handled, I do not recall ever asking  judges to disqualify themselves, but what is going on in Miami-Dade county before certain judges is a travesty of justice.  I see homeowner after homeowner losing their homes every day without regard to due process of law.  I even saw Judge Alan Schwartz force a case to trial when the homeowner had a Motion to Dismiss pending that had not been ruled on yet.  So, the homeowner did not even get to file any affirmative defenses!  The case was not at issue and it was CLEALRLY error to force the case to trial.  Of the 40 or so cases set for trial today, my client was the only one who walked out of there without a sale date, except for a couple of cases where the bank failed to show up.

Miami-Dade county is just setting hundreds of foreclosure cases for trial at a time without regard to whether any attorney is available or ready.  I think this is a problem and shows that in Miami-Dade county, they are just interested in plowing through foreclosures, not administering justice and due process.  I am an experienced trial attorney and I will try foreclosure cases all day long  because I love fighting for my clients.  However, at least give the homeowners a fair shake and rule in their favor when appropriate.

Read the recusal order here.

If you feel that you have been wronged by the judicial system in Miami-Dade County, please share your story in the comments section below.  I, and others, would love to hear about it.

Tags: Alan Schwartz, Audacity, Bank Of America, Bavaro, Eye To Eye, Fireworks, Foreclosure Action, Jaws, Jud, Loan Payment, Miami Dade County, Mortgage, Notice Of Acceleration, Objection, Opportunity, Paragraph, Payment History, Voir Dire, Wall Flower, Witness

I love what we do at Loan Lawyers and I can’t wait to get to the office everyday.  Today was definitely one of those days.  We obtained a judgment against Bank of America for $10,240 for debt collection violations.  Despite numerous warnings and opportunities Bank of America refused to pay the judgment.  So, we did to them what they do to homeowners.We foreclosed on them.

This all started when our client could no longer pay her mortgage.  She tried getting help from the bank, but like millions of other homeowners, she got nothing but a run around.  She came to Loan Lawyers to assist her.  Like we do for all of our clients, we sent Bank of America a notice that we are representing her and they should cease all communication and collection activity from her directly.  The bank obviously did not take us seriously.  The continued to call her and attempt to collect on the mortgage while we were in the middle of working on modifying her loan.  Not only did they call her repeatedly, when the called her, they would flat out lie to her.  At one point they told her that her house is due to be sold, but the truth is that they did not even put her in foreclosure yet.  A creditor such as Bank of America never has a right to lie to a debtor.  Further, when someone is represented by a lawyer, a creditor is not even allowed to attempt to collect the debt from them.  Yet, Bank of America violated both of these provisions.  So, we did what we do best and we sued Bank of America.  Ultimately we obtained a judgment for $10,240 for our client.

One would think that Bank of America would just do the right thing and pay the judgment.  But no, Bank of America ignored it.  We tried for months for them to just write the check and pay.  We gave them and their attorneys many more opportunities than they give homeowners, but they still failed to do the right thing and pay up.  We even warned them that we would send the sheriff to a branch to seize their assets if they did not pay, but to no avail.

So, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office along with a moving company and some of the lawyers from Loan Lawyers appeared at Bank of America in Plantation to foreclose on them.  The movers were inventorying the assets of the bank ready to start clearing them out.

We walked into the bank and the deputy served the writ of execution on the branch manager. The deputy told the manager that he was there to levy the assets of the bank if the bank did not pay the judgment.  The manager told the deputy that he would get it taken care of it but he would need a few days.  The deputy responded by telling him if he did not produce cash or a cashier’s check for the amount of the judgment plus the sheriff’s expenses within about 20 minutes, the doors would be locked, all employees and customers would be asked to leave and the movers would begin to take all of the physical assets of the bank, such as desks, chairs, telephone equipment, office supplies, rugs, artwork and everything else listed in the writ.

The manager started to scramble and called a Bank of America executive to rush to the branch.  After about 20 minutes, the executive arrived and was advised of the situation.  The bank did not know what to do.  After more delay, the Lawyers from Loan Lawyers and the movers started inventorying what would be removed from the bank. The bank finally came up with two cashier’s checks.  One for the movers and one to pay the judgment.  Our client was happy and it was another great job done.

Click to see the story from WSVN.

Unfortunately they mistakenly call us Loan Lawyers Law Group, although the firm name is Loan Lawyers, LLC. Loan Lawyers Law Group does not exist.

Here is the check from the judgment:

Tags: Attempt, Attorneys, Bank America, Bank Of America, Creditor, Debt Collection, Debtor, Do The Right Thing, Foreclose on Bank of America, foreclosure, Judgment Against, Lawyer, Lawyers, Love, Mortgage, One Of Those Days, Provisions, Truth, Wow

CNN reports that the ACLU has sued Morgan Stanley over risky mortgages.  What makes this lawsuit stand out from the many that have been filed for banks taking to much risk is that this lawsuit is not directed at the lender.  Morgan Stanley provided the funding to securitize these loans while making huge profits.

Basically these loans were originated by the originating lender.   Then they were securitized, meaning they were sold to a trust who would issues bonds to investors.  The lawsuit alleges that Morgan Stanley created an insatiable market for these risky loans which created financial incentive for the lenders to target minorities and saddle them with loans they could not afford.

“The targeting of communities of color for loans that unfairly raises the risk of default and foreclosure is the quintessential ‘reverse-redlining’ outlawed by the Federal Fair Housing Act,” said Elizabeth Cabraser, one of the lawyers bringing the suit.  This lawsuit was filed on behalf of 5 Detroit residents and the complaint asks the court to certify the claim as a class-action.  This is definitely a case to follow.

You can download/view the complaint here.

Tags: Aclu, Banks, Bonds, Cnn, Cnn Reports, Detroit Residents, Fair Housing Act, Financial Incentive, foreclosure, Investors, Lawsuit Alleges That, Lawyers, Lenders, Minorities, Morgan Stanley, Profits, Risk, Risky Loans, Risky Mortgages

Banks own approximately 1.5 million homes in America right now.  Given the number of pending foreclosures and defaults, you can expect that number to rise.  What are they doing with them?  Many they are just sitting on.

NuWire Inestor reports that homeowners are having difficulty buying homes in their neighborhood from the banks.   As vacant properties sit, they deteriorate and cause the whole neighborhood’s property values to plummet.   To avoid this, homeowners around the country are trying to buy up vacant properties in their neighborhoods so that the properties can be properly maintained.  However, the banks are stone-walling these efforts for many.

The NuWire article details a number of stories where people have faced this difficulty.

Tags: 5 Million, Article Details, Bank Owned Properties, Banks, Buying Homes, Foreclosures, Neighborhood, Neighbors, Property Values, Sit, Stone Walling, Vacant Properties

The US goverment has sued Wells Fargo for causing the taxpayers of this great country millions of dollars because of Wells Fargo’s reckless lending practices.  Under the FHA loan program, the federal government will insure loans for low income and first time borrowers that are originated by lenders, such as Wells Fargo.  The US is accusing Wells Fargo of misrepresenting the quality of the loans that it wrote through the FHA program.  As these loans starting going bad, the government, or more accurately, the US taxpayers, lost hundreds of millions of dollars.  The Wall Street Journal reports that “The company said that more than 100,000 FHA loans met federal guidelines when more than half of them didn’t, according to the complaint.”

Preet Bharara, The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued a statement saying “As the complaint alleges, yet another major bank has engaged in a long-standing and reckless trifecta of deficient training, deficient underwriting and deficient disclosure, all while relying on the convenient backstop of government insurance.”  While I commend the steps taken by the government to recoup money for the taxpayers, I think its a shame that the government allowed the crises to get this far.  Well Fargo received $25 BILLION in our money, but the government never obtained any written agreement with them to help homeowners. In fact, CBS reported in 2009 that the day Wells Fargo received that money, they bought Wachovia for over $12 BILLION.  So our hard earned tax money went to Well Fargo to keep them afloat, then they took that money and bought another bank instead of using it to help the homeowners that bailed them out.  Unbelievable.

Let’s face it, banks such as Wells Fargo have sunk this country and then the come begging the taxpayers for a handout.  After the get their money, they turn around and slap the taxpayers in the face by continuing their barrage of foreclosures instead of helping homeowners that are desperately trying to save their homes.  Its a total disgrace.

At Loan Lawyers, we sue bank, including Wells Fargo, for violating homeowners’ and debtors’ right.  The best part is that if our lawyers take your case and we sue Wells Fargo, we do so on a contingency fee basis, which means that you pay not attorneys fees or costs unless we recover money for you.  Call us today for your free consultation with one of our attorneys in Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach county.

1-888-FIGHT-13

Tags: Attorneys, Backstop, Barrage, Broward, Crises, Fha Loan, Fha Loans, Fha Program, foreclosure, Foreclosures, Goverment, Government Insurance, Loan Program, Miami Dade, Palm Beach, Preet Bharara, Southern District Of New York, Tax Money, Time Borrowers, Trifecta, Us Government, Us Taxpayers, Wachovia, Wall Street Journal, Wells Fargo