Although the airwaves have echoed with lender spokespersons’ eager assertions that they have improved their foreclosure practices in the wake of 2010’s robo-signer controversy, many individual court judges say otherwise[1]. “I’m not seeing any additional clarity on who has control over the actual mortgage note,” explained F. Dana Winslow, a New York State Supreme Court Justice in Nassau County, adding that it is difficult to see “where the note is.” She also called the alleged improvements “only marginal.”
Some justices are coping with the difficulties in innovative ways, such as when New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman started requiring lawyers to sign affidavits certifying that they had reviewed paperwork and that it was accurate, or when New Jersey General Equity Judge Mary Jacobson appointed a “special master” to watch six major mortgage servicers’ foreclosures in her state. Currently, there is “almost a presumption that there may be something wrong with the documentation,” said one bankruptcy lawyer about the situation.
In Florida, a County Circuit judge has already awarded one homeowner his property free and clear to teach a lender and law firm who brought “suspect paperwork” into court a lesson[2]. Furthermore, lawyers in the area do not believe that this was an isolated incident, but are calling her actions a “harbinger of things to come.” Philip Kramer, a lawyer with Florida firm Kramer & Kaslow, says he is not even particularly surprised because “lenders are almost without exception careless in their paperwork.”
Not surprisingly, the ongoing efforts of judges, legislators and yes, even the lenders in some cases, to establish a reliable way to navigate the foreclosure process fairly and effectively is slowing said process down dramatically. In some areas of the country, foreclosure can take two years or even more. Do you think that there is a solution to this problem, or is the market recovery just going to have to wait?
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Let us know what you think the judges should do to the lenders in the space below. If you have the best comment, we’ll do an e-interview with you so that you can let us know exactly what you think of this situation. If you need inspiration, check out Paul R’s comment yesterday on California foreclosures!
[1] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703367004576289241312106726.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
[2] http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/5/prweb8327518.htm
May 2nd, 2011 at 7:49 AM
IMHO we do not need an overhaul of the rules, or new procedures to deal with these cases. As a practicing attorney for 10 years and a licensed real estate agent for 22 all that is required is attention to detail and strict adherence to the rules of evidence and civil procedure. Judges simply need to hold the lenders and their attorneys to basic ethical standards. If you don’t have your documents in order, you can’t win. If you lie to the court, there are sanctions. It’s SIMPLE! Unfortunately due to the high volume of cases and decreased funding the judiciary cutting corners means a lack of due process as was pointed out in the ACLU’s criticism of the FL Rocket Docket and other delinquencies in the process. The economic fallout is impacting all sides of the equation and is a different story…
May 2nd, 2011 at 8:36 AM
The courts should throw any case where the correct paperwork can not be produced, If you or me where to come into court with the wrong paperwork our case would be thrown out and a judgement would be rendered against us, the laywers and the judges work for the banks, when will we finally get our do process in the courts?
May 3rd, 2011 at 5:56 PM
When the banks are treated the same way they treat their borrowers, the problems will drop dramatically. The people who make the decisions to allow this fiasco should be held responsibly, both criminally and personally. A few overpaid executives wearing the beautiful orange uniforms, and paying restitution to the homeowners out of their own assets will go a long way to prevent this abuse from continuing.
Willy Sutton only saw part of the issue. You don’t need a gun to rob a bank anymore. You need an executive title.
Jim Myers
May 4th, 2011 at 2:09 PM
All the :Fiscally Responsible Republicans” and “Tea Party Conservatives” along with their pet press have done a masterful job in ignoring the financial crisis that Gramm-Leach has wroght to Homeowners, US Treasurey and the Credit worthines of the USA! When Reagan closed S & L’s and then Clinton torched Glas-Stegall, the syswtem was simmply unequipped to handle the onslaught of paper that Wall Street created in its desire to return to home Mortgages. The result is the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression, and less hope to resolve it. Where is FDR when we need him, or a real press?! There is more legitimte news and information on any web page then in any newspaper or Television news in the US!