This is just coming in and I’ll follow up with any developing news.
Here’s a recap meanwhile:
Former employees of Plantation attorney David J. Stern agreed to a preliminary $502,000 settlement after he fired them without giving the required 60-day notice as business at his foreclosure law firm began to dry up.
U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. found the settlement “sufficiently fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interests” of the former workers, according to a preliminary order. There will be a June 8 final hearing.
Workers in the class-action settlement now have until May 3 to opt out of the settlement, while papers in support of it should be filed by May 29.
What do an insurance agent in Tennessee, a homemaker in Ohio, a private investigator from Wisconsin and a helicopter stunt pilot in Hollywood have in common? Well, for one thing, they’ve all participated in some fashion in “Foreclosure Diaries,” the documentary that my company, Pacific Street Films, has been producing, in fits and starts, since 2006.
When work first started on the film, the original tag was “Follow the Money,” and the road seemed to lead towards a dark and confusing destination. There was all this talk in the industry about scads of money to be made in servicing “subprime” loans. There were seminars, conferences, it seemed all the rage.
Were they wearing orange shirts on Friday to protest management? Or to get psyched for happy hour?
Either way, orange-shirted workers no longer have jobs at the Deerfield Beach law firm of Elizabeth R. Wellborn P.A.
A spokeswoman said the law firm had “no comment at this time.”
Four workers tell the story this way: For the past few months, some employees have worn orange shirts on pay-day Fridays so they’d look like a group when they went out for happy hour.
Former employees of Plantation attorney David J. Stern agreed to a preliminary $502,000 settlement after he fired them without giving the required 60-day notice as business at his foreclosure law firm began to dry up.
U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. found the settlement “sufficiently fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interests” of the former workers, according to a preliminary order. There will be a June 8 final hearing.
Workers in the class-action settlement now have until May 3 to opt out of the settlement, while papers in support of it should be filed by May 29.
Two attorneys from one of New York’s largest — and most notorious –foreclosure firms have set up their own shop in suburban Buffalo with 18 attorneys and counting, and they have plans for a downstate satellite office on Long Island.
Steven J. Baum PC shut its doors in November, following a rocky half year that included probes of how the firm handled foreclosures by New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The likely death knell: a New York Times column that mentioned a Halloween party where some firm employees came dressed as foreclosed-upon homeowners. (See our handy timeline here)
Now two former Baum lawyers, Adam Gross and Amy Polowy, have teamed up with another attorney, Linda Orlans, of Michigan, to form Gross, Polowy & Orlans LLC. The Buffalo News has the full report from upstate here.
A Farmington Hills law firm that represents mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in foreclosure and eviction cases has contributed $200,000 to a super PAC supporting Republican Mitt Romney for president.
That super PAC, Restore Our Future, has run ads against Romney’s GOP rival Newt Gingrich, attacking his ties to Freddie Mac and accusing him of “cashing in” on the foreclosure crisis.
The Dec. 27 contribution, disclosed Tuesday in a Federal Election Commission filing, was written from the corporate account of Trott & Trott PC. A 2010 Supreme Court decision allows corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on independent campaigns to support or oppose federal candidates.
Managing partner David Trott is a member of Romney’s Michigan finance committee. He and his wife also contributed $7,500 to the Romney campaign, and his employees contributed more than $11,000 to Romney.
They should have known better going up against AG Masto!
Nevada News Bureau-
CARSON CITY – When state Sen. Greg Brower asked the Attorney General’s office earlier this month about the $6 million in outside legal costs incurred so far in defending the state in a freeway construction dispute, he said his motives were purely fiscal in nature.
“We just don’t have money to waste,” said Brower, R-Reno. “At least this particular situation seems to suggest that maybe we are. Maybe there are good answers to all of these questions I raised in my letter but there is only one way to find out and that is to ask them.”
State Sen. Greg Brower, R-Reno. / Nevada News Bureau file photo.
But the use of outside counsel is being questioned in another case where Brower’s law firm, Snell & Wilmer, is representing a company being sued by Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, who is also using the services of a private law firm.
Steven J. Baum, whose Buffalo-area home-foreclosure mill is slated to close next month under pressure, could move the county unemployment rate up by nearly two-tenths of a percentage point all by himself.
Nearly 700 workers — just under 600 from Pillar Processing, a document processing firm he started years ago, and about 90 lawyers from his firm — will be out of a job when Baum’s firm shuts its doors.
The Baum-fueled pink slips could boost the jobless rate in Buffalo’s Erie County area to nearly 7.4 percent from 7.2 percent.
Just as in Florida with Stern & DJSP, this will continue to repeat with others.
You all know who you are.
Rewind-
In 2007 Steven J. Baum sold all or most of his stake in Pillar to Tailwind Capital. Tailwind is a Hedge Fund that buys companies that are valued between $25 – and $100 Million. Sometime later, Ares Capital Corporation, a publicly traded company invested over $30 Million in Pillar. Both Baum & Pillar share an address.
Pillar Processing, a back-office and document-processing firm with close ties to the Steven J. Baum PC foreclosure law firm, will lay off 590 full- and part-time employees at its offices in Amherst.
The company told state and local officials that the layoffs are expected to take effect Feb. 27. Pillar is also laying off about 20 employees in Westbury, on Long Island.
“I’m not saying Baum and Pillar were not in the wrong, but according to my sources, many other firms in New York were doing the same things as Baum and Pillar,” Freedman said. “However, Baum and Pillar were the only upstate companies handling a large volume of foreclosure business, and now the work is most likely going to move to downstate firms that are still in business.”
I think we all know that they know who they all are. 🙂 Sound Off!
Effective immediately, servicers are authorized to transfer any Fannie Mae foreclosure or bankruptcy matters in New York from Steven J. Baum, P.C., to any other Retained Attorney Network firms in the State of New York, a listing of which is posted on eFannieMae.com.
If you think these mills are the only ones? …GUESS AGAIN!
All of these firms should be barred and out of business period. You all know who you are.
REUTERS-
The sudden demise of one of New York’s largest foreclosure law firms has raised concerns of a drag on the thousands of cases it still has pending before the courts.
Steven J. Baum PC filed notice Monday informing federal labor regulators that it is planning “mass layoffs” on Feb. 20 as it prepares to close its doors. While no specific numbers were provided, the firm currently employs about 67 full and part-time employees at its main offices in western New York and 22 full and part-time employees in Long Island.
But while his firm may be on its way out, Steven Baum said in a statement Monday that he and remaining staff members will “fulfill our remaining work on behalf of our clients.”
Whether this means relying on the skeleton crew left behind to wind down the business or transferring cases to new firms will depend on the status of each case, according to attorneys who work on foreclosures in New York.
New York state’s beleaguered, largest foreclosure law firm — which today announced plans to shut down in the face of a firestorm of legal action — has allegedly failed to turn over about $130,000 owed to three people whose co-ops were foreclosed on, and could be sitting on millions of dollars of hundreds of other people’s money without those people knowing, The Post has learned.
Steven J. Baum P.C.’s move to shutter came a week after it was made ineligible to get new referrals on any Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages — essentially a death knell for the controversial firm. The two federally backed mortgage giants moved in the face of numerous complaints about questionable legal filings by Baum.
On Friday, a Brooklyn lawyer sued Baum claiming that the firm repeatedly ignored his attempts to obtain about $130,000 for three people whose co-ops were foreclosed on and later sold off in Baum-supervised auctions.
“We will fulfill all of our obligations under WARN and during this process we will also fulfill our remaining work on behalf of our clients,” Baum said in a prepared release. “Disrupting the livelihoods of so many dedicated and hardworking people is extremely painful, but the loss of so much business left us no choice but to file these notices.”
Buffalo Business First-
The embattled Steven J. Baum P.C. law firm is the closing its doors after a series of missteps that included mortgage industry giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Maecutting off business with the Amherst-based firm.
“Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Steven Baum got to go,” they chanted.
Buffalo News-
Nearly three dozen protesters from Occupy Buffalo demonstrated in front of the Amherst offices of Steven J. Baum PC, denouncing the controversial foreclosure attorney and calling on state authorities to shut down his office, take away his law license and even put him in jail.
The ragtag band of protesters, many of whom have been camping out in Niagara Square in downtown Buffalo, held up handwritten cardboard signs and chanted slogans to the beat of a bongo drum. They assembled at the corner of Northpointe Parkway and Sweet Home Road, before beginning a slow march down to Baum’s office at 220 Northpointe.
“Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Steven Baum got to go,” they chanted.
Signs called for a “moratorium on all foreclosures now,” proclaimed that “housing is a right,” and called Baum “the Grinch who stole houses.” Some protesters also wore paper crowns because “Stephen J. Baum is the foreclosure king of New York State,” said Samantha Colon, the spokeswoman for the protesters.
On and after November 10, 2011, Servicers may not refer any new Freddie Mac foreclosure or bankruptcy cases in New York to Steven J. Baum, P.C., whether referred within or outside of the Program.
Attorney Susan Chana Lask says
“This looks like the beginning of a well-deserved end for Baum”
“Are the courts supposed to rubber-stamp the filings, to . . . just sign off?” Judge Walker asked. “How can the court rely on good faith, knowing what the court knows of robo-signing?”
The Buffalo News-
Attorneys for New York State and a delinquent Buffalo borrower facing the loss of her home squared off in court Monday against Steven J. Baum PC, as the state’s biggest foreclosure law firm sought to have a new court mandate for accuracy of documents declared unconstitutional.
The Baum firm wants a state court in Buffalo to overturn a statewide administrative rule, which the firm contends is impeding the rights of its bank and mortgage servicing clients, and intruding on the power of the local court.
Now for those who are still working in these firms, keep in mind this won’t last much longer.
HW-
The Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson, a Florida-based foreclosure law firm that paid $2 million to settle an attorney general investigation into the firm’s operational processes earlier this year, is laying off staff members and hiring new employees for its compliance division.
“To streamline our processes and minimize inefficiencies, the firm has had to eliminate temporary and overlapping positions,” according to a spokesperson for the firm. “We are, however, adding positions to our compliance department as part of our continuing commitment to providing quality service to our clients.”
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
CHARLES J. and DIANE GILES, and LAURINE SPIVEY, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated,
Plaintiffs,
v.
PHELAN HALLINAN & SCHMIEG, LLP, PHELAN HALLINAN & SCHMIEG, P.C., LAWRENCE T. PHELAN, FRANCIS S. HALLINAN, DANIEL G. SCHMIEG, ROSEMARIE DIAMOND, FULL SPECTRUM SERVICES, INC., and LAND TITLE SERVICES OF NEW JERSEY, INC., WELLS FARGO & COMPANY, and WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.
Washington, DC (Oct. 18, 2011) – Today, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, responded to an announcement by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that it has instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin “transitioning away” from their use of designated foreclosure attorney networks to a system under which “mortgage servicers select qualified law firms that meet certain minimum, uniform criteria.”
“Several of these law firms were able to engage in abusive and illegal behavior that violated the rights of borrowers, in part because of deficient oversight by FHFA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac,” said Cummings. “In light of the extensive problems recently documented by the FHFA Inspector General, I urged FHFA to seriously consider terminating these attorney networks, and it appears they are implementing my request.”
“I remain concerned, however, that FHFA has not provided specific details about how mortgage servicers will select and oversee law firms to ensure that abusive behavior is prevented,” added Cummings. “I will continue my oversight efforts to ensure that specific measures are in place to require mortgage servicers to properly oversee the actions of law firms conducting foreclosure proceedings, including those involving mortgages owned or backed by the government sponsored enterprises.”
On February 25, 2011, Ranking Member Cummings launched a major investigation into abuses and illegal activities by mortgage servicing companies, including wrongful foreclosures, inflated fees, and the filing of improperly executed legal documents during the foreclosure process. As part of that investigation, Cummings sent a letter asking the FHFA Inspector General to examine “widespread allegations of abuse by private attorneys and law firms hired to process foreclosures as part of the ‘Retained Attorney Network’ established by Fannie Mae.”
On September 23, 2011, the FHFA Inspector General issued a report concluding that Fannie Mae and its regulators, including FHFA, were alerted repeatedly to serious problems with the legal firms in Fannie Mae’s retained attorney network (RAN) beginning as early as 2003, but failed to take corrective action. The Inspector General reported that “FHFA did not begin to act on foreclosure abuse issues involving Fannie Mae’s RAN until mid-2010,” despite “multiple indicators of foreclosure abuse risk prior to 2010 that could have led FHFA to identify and act earlier on the issue.”
On October 3, 2011, Cummings sent a letter to FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco requesting additional documents and information regarding these oversight failures. Cummings requested that the agency “give serious consideration to terminating the existing Fannie Mae Retained Attorney Network program.” He also requested that “FHFA take immediate and decisive action to remedy these failures and ensure that no additional borrowers suffer similar abuses.”
Nothing last forever… But now the servicers get to make the call on who they want to use… Already see the drama unfolding.
Bloomberg-
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will phase out their foreclosure attorney networks in the wake of the so-called robo-signing scandal, according to two people briefed on the plan.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates the mortgage companies, may make the announcement as soon as this week, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter isn’t public.
Fannie Mae has required the mortgage servicers handling its loans to use its Retained Attorney Network for foreclosures and bankruptcy cases. Some lawyers were accused by lawmakers, regulators and consumer groups of mishandling paperwork for evictions and foreclosures, including falsifying signatures on court affidavits. The dispute led many mortgage servicers to suspend foreclosure activity last year.
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