THE TWENTIETH CIRCUIT’S RESPONSE
TO THE PETITION FOR WRIT OF PROHIBITION

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Hint: This is NOT about borrowers, make sure you read the email in the link below!

“How do you think we can help out those poor defendants today? We may not be able to cure their legal issues, but we’d sure like to help give them some strong legal arguments in their case!”

Naples Daily News–

The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland issued the order Tuesday morning, nearly two weeks after the ACLU filed a petition seeking an intervention in the case of Cape Coral homeowner Georgi Merrigan, who is facing foreclosure.

© 2010-19 FORECLOSURE FRAUD | by DinSFLA. All rights reserved.

GEORGE E. MERRIGAN

v.

BANK OF NEW YORK MELLOW,
FKA BANK OF NEW YORK

from footnote:

1 Petitioner’s name is Georgi E. Merrigan, but the Circuit Court case caption erroneously refers to her as “George E. Merrigan.”

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Lee County Plaintiff Will Be Available For Comment and Interview

April 6, 2011

CONTACT:

ACLU Media Office, (212) 549-2582, media@aclu.org
ACLU of Florida Media Office, (786) 363-2737, media@aclufl.org

Cape Coral – The ACLU Foundation on Thursday will file a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari with the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland, Florida, requesting the Court review and rule on the process and procedures used in the “Foreclosure Courts” in the 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida (Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties).

The Writ alleges serious violations of due process and systemic deficiencies in the “Foreclosure Courts” which result in a loss of protections for homeowners. It requests the Court move the plaintiff’s pending foreclosure action from the “Foreclosure Courts” to regular circuit court proceedings.

The plaintiff in the case is a Cape Coral resident who will be available tomorrow in front of her home at:

Thursday, April 7, 2011
1:30pm
2723 SW 17 PL
Cape Coral, FL 33914

The plaintiff will be joined by ACLU of Florida Associate Legal Director Maria Kayanan who will be
able to answer questions about the legal challenge.

# # #

About the ACLU of Florida
The ACLU of Florida is freedom’s watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to
defend individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For
additional information, visit our web site at: www.aclufl.org.

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By STEVEN BEARDSLEY

Posted March 19, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.

FORT MYERS — The modern foreclosure case resembles a jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing: The picture may come through when put together, but it’s incomplete.

With most local foreclosures cases, the picture is clear enough — the homeowner fell behind on the mortgage, stopped paying and now owes someone his or her home.

Yet as state and federal investigators increasingly focus on those missing pieces — misplaced or fraudulent paperwork — critics say the Lee Circuit Court system is shirking its responsibility to do the same, instead pushing cases forward to reduce a massive case backlog.

from the NapleNews:

“It’s really going to bring the courts to its knees,” Allen said. “The court is going to have to find some creative ways to dispose of these cases.”

In Collier County alone, Stern’s firm had more than 1,700 active cases. In Lee County, there are more than 4,500.

“Lee’s a nightmare, especially when you throw the ‘rocket docket’ in there,” Allen s

Abigail- knocks this OUT THE BALL PARK! Outstanding!!

By ABIGAIL FIELD Posted 11:30 AM 02/08/11

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.

Some of Florida’s courts, however, — particularly courts in Lee County — have come under fire for compounding the documentation problems by ignoring the rule of law in order to rush through foreclosures. And a new rule put in place by the Florida Supreme Court to ensure that documents being used in foreclosures are properly certified hasn’t worked well, thanks to a new type of robo-signing that has sprung up to get around it.

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

By ABIGAIL FIELD Posted 1:45 PM 01/26/11

Lee County, Florida has become infamous for speeding foreclosure cases through its courts. The super-charged system — or “rocket docket” — can dispense with a foreclosure case in minutes, sometimes mere seconds. In the interests of speed, the courts have even refused requests for delay from foreclosing banks to get their papers in order and exempted banks from rules that apply to others.

Indeed, earlier this month Lee County Judge James Thompson denied a bank’s request to delay a foreclosure so it could try to complete a short sale under the government’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program. A HAFA short sale was presumably in the bank’s interest, which is why it requested the delay, and it certainly was in the homeowner’s interest, as the program would protect the homeowner from having to pay the roughly $200,000 difference between the mortgage and the short sale price. Whose interests does Judge Thompson’s order serve?

Florida’s “rocket docket” has been suggested as a reason why so many banks are now voluntarily dismissing Florida banks just aren’t ready to go forward. Those voluntary dismissals have two negative consequences for the banks, so surely they wouldn’t undertake them lightly. The first is that the banks will have to pay new filing fees, some $2,000 per case. (The banks can recoup the costs from the proceeds of an eventual foreclosure sale.) The second is that banks can only do a voluntary dismissal once; if they file again and have to dismiss the case for some reason, it will be with prejudice.

Example below…

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Banks drop foreclosures in Southwest Florida

Hundreds of lawsuits dismissed

By DICK HOGAN • dhogan@news-press.com • January 19, 2011

1:10 A.M. — Banks in recent weeks have been dropping hundreds of their Southwest Florida foreclosure lawsuits instead of facing defendants at trial, according to local attorneys and court records.

Opinions varied sharply on whether that means banks are just taking a breather before refiling with stronger evidence – or giving up for good on hopelessly flawed cases.

Some foreclosures at large law firms were never actually read by the attorneys who filed them here and elsewhere, and some of the mortgages that ended up in mortgage-backed securities sold to investors were never legally transferred by the banks, defense attorneys have alleged.

Fla.Civ.Pro 1.510(e)

–Form of Affidavits; Further Testimony. Supporting and opposing affidavits shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein. Sworn or certified copies of all papers or parts thereof referred to in an affidavit shall be attached thereto or served therewith. The court may permit affidavits to be supplemented or opposed by depositions, answers to interrogatories, or by further affidavits.

Link to his site: Christian Meister

Just want to make it clear that no one from his office/party sent this to me.

Winner in my book!

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