Foreclosure Cases Numbering Thousands in Limbo a Year Following Collapse of Foreclosure Mill

Foreclosure cases numbering thousands are in limbo even after a year following collapse of ‘foreclosure mill’ – the legal firm of David J.Stern in Florida. Four months prior to the official pulling down of the shutters on his firm Stern, the King-of-Foreclosures knew that his throne had tumbled. In a deposition in 2010 November, one of his employees said that Stern had told them that there was nothing left for either for them or him in the firm. The game was over and the story had ended. In his deposition Stern had described the turn of events as something unexpected and catastrophic. Two of his biggest clients had withdrawn all their assignments from him. He shut down the firm on 31st March 2011 leaving behind 100,000 foreclosure cases of Florida in a state of limbo; it calculated to one-third of all the pending cases in the state. A year has passed and thousands are crawling through Florida courts; often these are being stalled as newly appointed attorneys comb through details while other cases are dismissed due to lack of proper documents. In brief – the situation continues to remain unresolved. As many as 377 complaints have been made to Florida Bar regarding foreclosure fraud but till now not even one lawyer has been placed under sanctions. Stern is still continuing to remain as a member sans any stain whatsoever. The investigations being made against foreclosure fraud withered away recently when the power of the state to subpoena the accused was quashed. Even the order of the Supreme Court that mandated mediation programme came to be terminated last December because of little participation; it made the negotiation clause futile. With the closure of Stern’s firm the backlog of cases of Florida has shot up. Sylvia Ayalon, formerly of Consumer Mortgage Audit Center of Fort Lauderdale commented that with the large portfolio of Stern’s firm combining with the defective process the backlog is growing in uncontrolled manner. But nevertheless the removal of Stern has brought about some progress in the courts. The focus is now on rectifications so that borrowers can have more protection and not lose their homes easily commented lawyer Frank Albear of LaBovick Law Group based in Palm Beach Gardens. The courts are paying more attention to fraud charges and to the standpoint of the homeowners said another lawyer, Roy Oppenheim engaged with Oppenheim Law of Weston located in Weston.