Like they’ll do anything about this…they haven’t even done a thing about the foreclosure mills that were fired from Fannie & Freddie!
The FL Bar knows what’s up but will never ever take any action.
PALM BEACH POST-
The Florida Bar’s investigations into foreclosure fraud by its members jumped 63 percent in the past year, but no disciplinary actions against attorneys have been levied since complaints began to mount in the fall of 2010.
The responsibility to hold lawyers accountable for foreclosure misconduct now rests solely with the Florida Bar after the state attorney general’s investigation into high-volume foreclosure law firms collapsed this week.
Since March of last year, the number of foreclosure fraud investigations of attorneys by the Bar grew from 222 cases to 362. During the same time period, about 130 cases were closed with no findings of fault. There are 229 pending cases.
The Bar alleged in a complaint that Stern willfully ignored a request in February by the 5th DCA to produce documents in a lawsuit between SunTrust Bank and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems. Stern had been listed as counsel for SunTrust.
Funny thing because FHFA and other have found this firm to be the highlight of their investigations.
Complaints about foreclosure fraud are pouring into the Florida Bar, with four times more cases pending than there were six months ago, as property owners trying to save their homes increasingly take on their banks and their lenders’ lawyers.
The bar, which regulates lawyer conduct in Florida and most states, has opened 202 foreclosure fraud grievance investigations since November, with 226 now pending. Such complaints target lenders’ attorneys, some of whose huge practices process thousands of foreclosures a month.
Foreclosure proceedings in courts nationwide have exposed a swamp of fraudulent documents, and in some cases — though perhaps far too few — those bad docs have sunk attempts by banks to take people’s homes.
In a reflection of how bad things have gotten, lenders are asking judges to “ratify” foreclosures done with robo-signed documents, the Palm Beach Post reported on Saturday. While such“ratification” would not, as a matter of law, mean much, the Post says, it might discourage people from challenging the foreclosures.
With luck, two recent developments may help really clean up the fraud in the Sunshine State. First, an appeals court has asked the Florida Supreme Court to clarify judges’ power to address the fraud, and second, the Florida Bar Association is finally taking a stand.
Asking for Power to Punish Foreclosure Fraud
ByChristine Stapleton and Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Updated: 7:22 p.m. Monday, Jan. 31, 2011
Posted: 11:51 a.m. Monday, Jan. 31, 2011
In an opinion that could have unfathomable consequences in countless foreclosure cases, The Florida Bar says attorneys must notify a judge about potential fraud — including robo-signed affidavits and forged notary stamps — even if a foreclosure case is closed and the home has been sold at auction.
The direction was published in an article in today’s issue of The Florida Bar Journal as part of an outline in a new free online foreclosure class offered by The Bar. The class is in response to problems that led several major lenders to temporarily freeze foreclosures last fall.
No one knows how many cases could be affected or what judges will do when they are notified. About 1.2 million foreclosures have been filed in Florida since January 2007, according to RealtyTrac. Investigators for the Florida Attorney General’s Office have found tens of thousands of forged signatures, backdated documents and other problem paperwork at four law firms, so-called “foreclosure mills” currently under investigation.
“There has never been a problem like this before or this kind of wholesale misrepresentation,” said Margery Golant, a Boca Raton-based attorney who teaches a portion of the Bar’s four-hour online course, which instructs lawyers to report fraud. “No one knows how this is going to turn out or what the right things to do are.”
Published: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, January 17, 2011 at 10:52 p.m.
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Florida courthouses are rife with evidence of errors and fabrications made by attorneys handling foreclosure cases, and yet so far no lawyers have been disciplined.
With pressure mounting to police its own members, the Florida Bar established a special category of complaints listed as “foreclosure fraud.”
But in 20 complaints investigated in that category, the Bar has not found cause to discipline anyone — even lawyers who admitted to breaking ethical rules.
Some observers say that early track record of ignoring misdeeds by its members raises questions about whether the system of self-policing for lawyers can handle the depth of wrongdoing in the foreclosure crisis.
The complaints have been filed by judges, lawyers, homeowners and the Florida Bar itself, and reflect the issues seen in courtrooms almost daily for the past two years, including forged signatures and backdated documents used to improperly seize homes in foreclosures.
No. 3D09-2921
Lower Tribunal No. 09-12657
________________ Steven Ray Opella,
Appellant,
vs. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC.,
Appellee.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Thomas S. Wilson, Jr., Judge.
Steven Ray Opella, in proper person.
Popkin & Rosaler, Brian L. Rosaler, Richard P. Cohn and Deborah Posner,
(Deerfield Beach), for appellee.
Before GERSTEN, WELLS, and LAGOA, JJ.WELLS, Judge.
Steven Ray Opella appeals from a final summary judgment of foreclosure
entered in favor of Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC., claiming that he was never
served with process. Because the record unequivocally confirms that Opella was
neither served with process nor waived service, we reverse.
We also direct the clerk to forward a copy of this opinion to the Florida Bar for
consideration of conduct in violation of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar.
The Bar also confirmed Aug. 16 that it is also investigating Stern for numerous allegations of violating attorney regulations, including whether his running of DJSP Enterprises, a publicly traded company, is in compliance.
Stern represents banks that are attempting to foreclose on residential mortgages. Stern, his law firm and DJSP Enterprises are exemplary of the wave of attorneys who have benefitted from the flood of foreclosures that gripped the nation over the last three years.
Stern received a public reprimand in 2002 for billing practices that made it appear he was paying other companies for work on title insurance, when he was actually using in-house staff.
Stern settled the 2002 Bar complaint by consenting to the reprimand before the Bar’s board of governors. In the reprimand, Bar President Tod Aronovitz said Stern’s practices were “misleading” to the courts and foreclosure defendants.
It is alleged that the firms, in representing lenders, may have fabricated mortgage assignments in order to speed up the foreclosure process.
Stern’s attorney, Jeffrey Tew, has brushed off McCollum’s announcement by saying that Stern handled 100,000 cases in the last few years, and a few mistakes were inevitable.
Tew said this week that resolving the 2002 Bar complaint also involved Stern agreeing to have all staff who perform title insurance work to be on the payroll of a separate title company.
Tew, of Miami-based Tew Cardenas LLP, said any alleged deception from the 2002 complaint “was inadvertent on David’s part,” and “there hasn’t been any Bar discipline since 2002.”
Tew said Stern employs 1,200 paralegals in Plantation, and may have turned to using staff in Manila, Philippines, partly due to a lack of space.
“The Bar has approved the use of paralegals in other countries,” Tew said. “DJSP has a group of paralegals in Manila. He doesn’t necessarily have room for more here, and it may be partly related to pay scales also.”
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