Buffalo News-
A Buffalo bankruptcy attorney’s attempt to investigate and call into question the fees charged to debtors by a prominent downstate foreclosure law firm has triggered a bitter defamation lawsuit.
Attorney Peter Grubea, who runs the largest bankruptcy practice in Western New York by volume of cases, has raised questions about what he calls high and unnecessary fees charged by Rosicki, Rosicki & Associates P.C., of Long Island, one of the biggest foreclosure firms in the state. He accuses them of racketeering, a charge often used for organized crime and corruption. In a blog posting on his website in late March, Grubea wrote that he is “currently investigating the billing practices” of Rosicki, saying that “we believe that the charges imposed … are unfairly high.” He also wrote that he is already litigating the issue in a bankruptcy proceeding and expects additional litigation in state court, and asks for people to contact him if they’ve dealt with Rosicki in a foreclosure case. “You may have a claim for monetary damages,” he wrote.
In response, Rosicki sued Grubea for defamation and libel, accusing him of “publicly and falsely defaming plaintiffs to the whole world” by making “defamatory statements that are directed squarely at destroying both the business and reputation of plaintiffs.”