T/O: At what point does the Florida Bar need to step in?

From Kim Miller:

Palm Beach County Chief Judge Peter Blanc said in a letter Wednesday to David J. Stern that Stern’s suggestions to deal with thousands of abandoned cases are not permitted by Florida rules of law.

continue to Palm Beach Post

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Miami Herald

On Monday, Stern wrote a letter to Palm Beach County Chief Judge Peter D. Blanc, pitching new strategies for the courts in dealing with his inevitable exit from the business of foreclosure prosecution. His letter places much of the blame on the lenders who ended their relationship with his firm but have not yet transferred the cases to new lawyers, leaving them in limbo and clogging up the overloaded courts.

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If these judges have no clue what to do next… We all could offer a few suggestions.

From the Palm Beach Post

“Florida Rules of Civil Procedure require that attorneys file a proper Motion to Withdraw from any case which they no longer plan to represent,” said Eunice Sigler, a spokeswoman for the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County. “We are currently researching various options, including any remedies available through the Florida Bar.”

Palm Beach County Chief Judge Peter Blanc said this week he’s also trying to figure out how to proceed.

“Stern has provided notice he will no longer be attorney of record, but the court is unable to recognize it,” Blanc said. “I’m told we’re getting more stipulations of substitute counsel but not anywhere near the number we should have.”

Blanc said he’s never seen a move like Stern’s before – sending a letter to judges that says “treat the pending cases as you deem appropriate.”

While some called the problem a technicality, others called it perjury and a fraud.

By Christine Stapleton and Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 8:23 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011
Posted: 8:18 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011

Scores of Palm Beach County homes were foreclosed on with faulty paperwork that banks are now trying to sidestep with a legal maneuver experts say doesn’t even exist.

A Palm Beach Post review of court documents filed after last fall’s robo-signing scandal found 116 Palm Beach County cases in which attorneys for banks have asked a judge to ratify a final foreclosure judgment even though flawed documents “may” have been used to foreclose on the property.

Nearly half of the homes – 48 percent – have been sold at foreclosure auction. Tampa-based Florida Default Law Group, being investigated by the state attorney general, filed all of those foreclosures. All but three of the homes auctioned were seized based on documents signed by Jeffrey Stephan, a renowned robo-signer.

They were spotted because lawyers filed “motions to ratify” the final foreclosure judgment – an unheard-of request apparently aimed at getting judges to uphold the original case, the amounts owed to the bank, and attorney fees.

A judge’s blessing on the back end could discourage challenges to ownership and title down the road.