According to Associated Press, David Stern’s Plantation-based law practice will end operations March 31, 2011. “The firm once had more than 1,200 employees and handled tens of thousands of foreclosures each year.”
While one foreclosure mill is closing its doors, many more remain open for business. Lenders and borrowers involved with foreclosures should opt instead for competent local counsel to protect their interests. Got a foreclosure question? Call Brad Hogreve at 941.364.2400.
According to the Florida Bar,
” April Charney of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid will be the featured speaker at a February 25 seminar in Sarasota designed for all attorneys interested in learning how to handle defense of foreclosure cases.
The seminar is free to all attorneys who accept at least one pro bono case. The cost for lunch is $15.
Seven hours of CLE credits have been applied for which will include one ethics credit.
Registration for the seminar begins at 8:30 a.m., and the seminar begins at 9 a.m. on Friday, February 25, at the Hilton Garden Inn located at 8270 North Tamiami Trail in Sarasota.
Topics include:
• Federal laws that govern mortgage originating and servicing;
• Laws and regulations that govern mortgage lending and servicing;
• Understanding loan documents, origination, and closing process;
• Servicing problems
• Common law/state law causes of action and affirmative defenses;
• Drafting discovery/motion practice.
If you would like to attend contact Atheia Inman via e-mail at Atheia.Inman@jaxlegalaid.org”
In an effort to prove that he can’t take a joke, Dan Snyder filed suit today against a free weekly newspaper for an article which lampooned Mr. Snyder and his leadership of the Washington Redskins.
According to a story at si.com, “The cover story entitled ‘The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder,’ has an altered photo of the owner with horns and a beard drawn in pen. The suit claims the weekly newspaper used ‘lies, half-truths, innuendo and anti-Semitic imagery to smear, malign, defame and slander’ Snyder.”
The Sun-Sentinel recently reported that Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi had expanded its investigation of foreclosure law firms. The Florida AG’s office is now examining whether these firms were submitting court documents seeking, among other things, inflated fees for process serving and filing foreclosures before the lender or loan servicer shows that it has a legal interest in the mortgage.
The perceived benefits lenders see in foreclosure mills are quickly being replaced by potential liabilities. Lenders, and borrowers, need competent, local counsel for foreclosures.
Lenders relying upon sloppy paperwork and insufficient assignments took a shot earlier this week. “In a 6-to-0 decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rebuffed the way lenders in recent years have conducted foreclosures — without having all the documentation in place at the time a property is seized. The justices affirmed a 2009 ruling that invalidated foreclosure proceedings involving two Springfield houses because the lenders did not hold clear titles to the properties.” (http://tinyurl.com/2earqnp)
Here’s the (lengthy) link to the decision – http://weblinks.westlaw.com/result/default.aspx?action=Search&cnt=DOC&db=MA-ORSLIP&eq=search&fmqv=c&fn=_top&method=TNC&n=1&origin=Search&query=TO%28ALLSCT+ALLSCTRS+ALLSCTOJ%29&rlt=CLID_QRYRLT956842524481&rltdb=CLID_DB194342524481&rlti=1&rp=%2Fsearch%2Fdefault.wl&rs=MAOR1.0&service=Search&sp=MassOF-1001&srch=TRUE&ss=CNT&sskey=CLID_SSSA254502524481&sv=Split&vr=1.0
It is important for lenders and borrowers to have competent local counsel represent them in foreclosure actions. 
If you have any questions about foreclosure, call Brad Hogreve at 941.364.2400.
After DePuy issued its recall notice, it sent a letter to doctors and clinicians and informed them that DePuy was willing to pay for their patients’ hip revision surgeries, BUT DePuy conditioned its offer on getting back the defective hip implants. (Here’s the web address for DePuy’s letter – http://asrrecall.depuy.com/sites/default/files/DPYUS1%20Recall%20Notice.pdf)
Never mind the fact that the patients with the defective hardware are the owners of the defective hardware, the real problem is that the explant is critical evidence in the effected patients’ cases against DePuy.
The hardware is critical evidence because it will allow an expert to determine whether the hip malfunctioned because of DePuy’s defective design and materials or whether the patient’s lifestyle caused the hip problems. Obviously, DePuy will argue in response to lawsuits that the damages patients suffered are their own fault (or that of their doctors) and are not the fault of the manufacturer.
Hold on to your DePuy explants! You do not need to agree to DePuy’s demands to get the health care and compensation you deserve. If you have DePuy’s ASR XL Acetabular Hip System or ASR Hip Resurfacing System, do not sign any paperwork from DePuy and do not agree to release the DePuy explant without consulting with Bill Robertson, 941-364-2400.
Rolling Stone magazine blogger Matt Taibbi, recently posted a description of MERS which helps explain the Mortgage Electronic Registration System. Mr. Taibbi’s post is timely because it helps explain the entity and its process which is causing such problems with Florida’s foreclosures.
Mr. Taibbi’s post is helpful because MERS’s self-description of its business and mortgage registration process on its website is confusing. According to MERS (http://www.mersinc.org/about/index.aspx), “MERS was created by the mortgage banking industry to streamline the mortgage process by using electronic commerce to eliminate paper. Our mission is to register every mortgage loan in the United States on the MERS System. … MERS acts as nominee in the county land records for the lender and servicer. Any loan registered on the MERS System is inoculated against future assignments because MERS remains the nominal mortgagee no matter how many times servicing is traded.”
Mr. Taibbi’s post helps explain this confusing self-description through the use of a metaphor. (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/an-extremely-long-metaphor-to-explain-mortgage-chaos-20110101) This metaphor involving a truck and large family helps one understand what MERS does and how MERS has caused such a problem in the foreclosure process.
Because foreclosures can be complicated, mortgagors and mortgagees would do well to retain competent local counsel in all foreclosure actions. If you have any questions about your mortgage or foreclosure, call Brad Hogreve at 941-364-2455.
By now, most Floridians are familiar with the foreclosure problem created by so-called “robo-signers,” those bank and law firm employees who signed whatever mortgage-related materials was put in front of them and pretended that they had knowledge of such materials. Now, Floridians are learning about “robo-verifiers.” 
The Florida Supreme Court enacted new rules designed to avoid further problems with robo-signers which required lender’s pleadings to be verified. “The rule, as interpreted by several attorneys and based on recent trial court rulings, requires lenders to review and verify the accuracy of foreclosure complaints and their attachments after they are assembled by their attorneys. A lender employee who independently double-checks the information would then sign the documents to verify the accuracy. But foreclosure defense lawyers say that in many cases the same attorney who put together the lawsuit is signing as the verifier.” Polyana da Costa, “Defense lawyers raise new issue: ‘Robo-verifiers’,” http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/PubArticleDBR.jsp?id=1202476541917&hbxlogin=1 (Dec. 22, 2010).
Although attorneys engaged in this process may be exposed to court sanctions, the larger problem – a foreclosure caseload which fails to be resolved – will remain unresolved.
As we have been repeatedly saying, it is important to have competent local counsel involved in any foreclosure action. If you have questions about foreclosure – whether you are a lender or a property owner and whether the involved property is commercial or residential – call Brad Hogreve at 941.364.2455.
MyWay news reports today about a California man who quit his job and went to law school because he was so upset with spam mail: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101226/D9KBQRMG0.html
While no one wants to be a defendant in a criminal action or a party to a civil lawsuit, everybody enjoys reading about trials! 
For those in need of a stocking stuffer, here’s a link to some great courtroom and legal thrillers – http://addictivebooks.com/court/court_1.htm
