Florida foreclosure case could slam banks

[steve2470]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/10/us-pino-foreclosure-idUSBRE84902920120510

(Reuters) - The Florida Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Thursday in a lawsuit that could undo hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and open up banks to severe financial liabilities in the state where they face the bulk of their foreclosure-fraud litigation.

The court is deciding whether banks who used fraudulent documents to file foreclosure lawsuits can dismiss the cases and refile them later with different paperwork.

The decision, which may take up to eight months to render, could affect hundreds of thousands of homeowners in Florida, and could also influence judges in the other 26 states that require lawsuits in foreclosures.

Of all the foreclosure filings in those states, sixty three percent, a total of 138,288, are concentrated in five states, according to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace. Of those, nearly half are in Florida. In Congressional testimony last year, Bank of America, the U.S.'s largest mortgage servicer, said that 70 percent of its foreclosure-related lawsuits were in Florida.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. No worries: Holder will save the bankers' asses.

Close call though!

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. The bank's attorney"defended American Nazi Party members and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David O. Duke

"To represent it before the Florida Supreme Court, Bank of New York Mellon has hired Bruce Rogow, an attorney who has argued civil rights cases and defended American Nazi Party members and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David O. Duke. He also has represented consumers in the class action against banks for overdraft fees."

[customerserviceguy]

3. Does anyone really expect the courts to rule against the banks?

Seriously, if the banks are prohibited from ever filing foreclosure proceedings against a property that they even once filed a defective claim against, what's stopping the borrowers in those situations from just failing to make another mortgage payment? No right to foreclose means no right to recover the debt.

I really can't see any other situation than the banks prevailing here.