By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: November 6, 2010
For some Florida residents, the price of getting out of foreclosure will include taking on a second mortgage — payable this time to their lawyers.
The new mortgage, which takes effect only if the foreclosure is dismissed and the homeowner’s debt to the bank is reduced, is controversial among defense lawyers, some of whom call it “creepy” and “crass.” Yet even they acknowledge it offers a solution to a vexing question: How do they get paid?
After recent revelations that banks were sloppy in processing many foreclosures and in some cases lack standing to seize a house, potential clients seeking to challenge their lenders are flocking to lawyers. But while these distressed homeowners might have a case, they generally lack the resources to pay legal fees. Being in foreclosure usually means being broke.
“We thought, ‘Why don’t we use a bit of ingenuity to find an affordable way to represent them?’ ” said Peter Ticktin of the Ticktin Law Group in Deerfield Beach, Fla. “It’s a new model, a new paradigm.”
Foreclosure defense is a new legal specialty whose strategies and techniques are still being worked out. Mr. Ticktin, who has some 3,000 foreclosure clients, says his plan to collect fees by taking another mortgage on his clients’ properties has already been copied by other firms.
The Ticktin mortgages resemble the loans that the clients originally got from Countrywide, GMAC and other lenders. Each will be a contractual obligation with the law firm, labeled as a mortgage and structured like one, too, with the client paying a certain sum every month and using the house as collateral.
Unconventional payment structures are becoming popular in the foreclosure hotbed of Florida. Whether they yet have caught on elsewhere is unclear. Certainly, Mr. Ticktin is far from the only lawyer being forced to innovate.
“We can put in $100,000 of our time but over the length of a case be paid only $6,000 in monthly fees,” said Thomas E. Ice of Ice Legal in Royal Palm Beach.
Mr. Ice, Mr. Ticktin and many other Florida foreclosure lawyers typically receive a few hundred dollars a month from each client. To supplement that, they seek legal fees from the banks they successfully challenge as well as contingency fees.
Contingency fees are standard in cases in which the client has little money but there is the possibility of a large payout. A slip and fall on a store’s wet floor or a medical malpractice claim are classic contingency cases. If the plaintiff wins, insurance companies ultimately foot the bill.
In foreclosure cases, however, the client pays the contingency fee. While such an approach is sometimes used in commercial litigation, this is a first for consumer cases, said Lester Brickman, a professor at Cardozo Law School in New York.
The Ticktin Law group, and Peter Ticktin are no different than a DAVID STERN. They are both out to Screw You!
I recently spoke with the Ticktin, and they are very selective as to WHO they want to represent REGARDLESS of your case.For example, IF you have a 2nd Mtg., they will no take your case. If you are over the 1 year Fl rule 1.540, they will not take your case EVEN for FRAUD ON THE COURT which extinguishes the 1 yr rule.
Plus their Firm lacks any customer service, telephone skills, or credibility of getting you situated to begin discussing your issues with a inexperienced screener ( not a attorney ) who decides IF YOUR CASE has merits. If so, the screener will set up a appointment with a inexperienced Attorney who will have a rhetorical conversation with you about the same garbage you discussed with the screener.
When I did call in to my appointment, I was left on hold for 56 mins.. What a Pain in the A$$. My advice would be to pass on TICKTIN LAW, and find someone who can address your concerns in a polite manner, without all the time wasting.
Aside from a attorney who will “string you out ” in lieu of a Payment plan, or whatever, the decision has to be made on the merits of WHICH court you want to bring your case!
Is it going to be CIVIL or FED Bankruptcy court??
From what I am witnessing, CIVIL Judges ( except for New YorK, OHIO )especially in FLORIDA are still incompetent after a good 48 months screwing homeowners, and refusing to Listen or Understand the facts in ANY case.
Most Civil Judges are Horrified at the notion of Overturning their respective cases for fear of allowing Hundreds of Thousands of cases to be refiled in addition to the other Million cases already being filed?
Federal BK Judges DO GET IT, and don’t play the games activist Civil judges do like refusing to reverse themselves EVEN if LUKE SKY WALKER is the holder of the note by fraud, and the Trust is ALPHA CENTURION located in the Far reaches of the Milky Way by Regulus 6 light years away.
Better yet, ask your attorney the chances of a Judge reversing Himself, and listen to the answer. If you can’t get a good answer, don’t pay the retainer!
Try and show-up in Bankruptcy with a Fraudulent proof of Claim, and see what happens! Then let someone like Deutsche National Bank explain the indefensible task of why they lied on the Proof of Claim.
So why throw good money after a DAVID STERN type outfit like TICKTIN, when you can get real results in BK court??
My bet is on the BK Judges for the biggest bang for the Buck!
The ticktin law group does great work and really fights the banks. It is not sup rising that after they exposed the robosigners the banks got negative press to surface. The attorneys are top notch and they put more money and effort to fight the banks because of the contingency on the back end. The contingency onlY hits if the homeowner reduces are wipes out the mortgage, it Is only to make the homeowner money out of their equity, clients love it. The misinformed can knock it, and it looks as it is allowable under the rules as a lien. Happens all the time in divorce cases.