Area judges handling hundreds of foreclosures a day

It's no secret that Florida courts are clogged with hundreds of thousands of foreclosures.

The problem is so overwhelming that the state legislature appropriated $9.6 million to hire retired judges to hear cases and reduce the backlog. The goal is to work through 62 percent of the cases by next summer.

But while the process is designed to clear the log jam, it forces overburdened judges to rush through cases that may have faked or unverified documents and forged signatures, defense attorneys and court watchers warn. Called "rocket dockets," the hundreds of foreclosures disposed of daily in Tampa Bay's circuit court are also being done without full public access, attorneys say.

The end result may be that many cases will return to court because properties won't have clear titles.

Meanwhile, three members of Congress asked mortgage giant Fannie Mae on Friday to stop using law firms that are being investigated for fraud over key documentation. Judges are now having to base their decision on those files.

"Before this, the judge had a day or two to review the case," said April Charney, a Jacksonville lawyer who teaches foreclosure defense. "Now, the judge doesn't even see the file until the hearing. They haven't read the motion. They just jam through the judgments."

The load of casework seems almost insurmountable. When Hillsborough County's program began in July, it had 33,000 pending foreclosures. In order to meet the state's goal, the 13th Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County wants to clear 2,000 a month. In August, it disposed of 1,839.

To move cases, the court received $427,504. It divided cases into two sections, each of which can hear up to 150 cases a day. Six retired judges preside over the hearings.

The circuit in Pinellas County strives to clear 200 cases a day at each of its four courthouses.

Judges tend to side with the lawyers representing lenders, even though the three firms that handle 80 percent of Florida's foreclosures are under investigation by the Florida Attorney General's Office for making up documents.

Lenders win most of the time because homeowners don't show up to contest the foreclosure, not because judges are rubber stamping every case before them, said Mike Bridenback, court administrator for the Hillsborough court. Anyone who raises a defense, he said, is having their arguments considered.

"I don't think there's any pressure on judges to clear cases," Bridenback said. "If there's an assumption that just because we have a goal we're not doing our jobs, that's a wrong assumption. Lawyers always think they do a good job and should have won."

Bridenback said the judges could not speak about these cases because many of them are ongoing.

Matt Weidner, a foreclosure defense attorney in St. Petersburg, said he's appalled to see judges approving foreclosures by the hundreds, despite solid evidence that files could have problems.

"Banks have admitted they aren't verifying cases before signing affidavits," he said. "These law firms are being investigated, yet judges are approving these cases all day long."

Florida's Attorney General has accused "foreclosure mills" for rushing cases through the system, launching investigations into three of them.

"On numerous occasions, allegedly fabricated documents have been presented to the courts in foreclosure actions to obtain final judgments against homeowners," said Bill McCollum in an August prepared statement announcing the investigation.

Those same foreclosure firms are the ones the Congressman asked Fannie Mae to address Friday.

In a letter to Fannie Mae, Congressman Barney Frank, Alan Grayson and Corrine Brown asked the mortgage giant to explain why it is using lawyers "that are accused of regularly engaging in fraud to kick people out of their homes."

Problems with foreclosure have been in the spotlight this week, after Ally Financial, the nation's fourth-largest owner of loans issued a moratorium on foreclosures in 23 states. Ally's GMAC Mortgage unit said it discovered that its processing team signed affidavits without verifying the information was accurate, which is against the law.

Employees for other lenders, such as JPMorgan Chase, have also admitted in depositions to not confirming accuracy of information in court documents.

Foreclosure defense attorneys, such as Steven Combs, say this is the type of document problem that should result in cases being dismissed.

Combs also questions whether the foreclosure programs violate Florida's constitution. Using retired judges on a temporary basis is constitutional and common, Combs said. But this program means the retired judges hear all of the foreclosure cases, and the work may not be considered temporary.

He also thinks judges have conflicts of interest because of their goals to clear the backlog.

"If you're a homeowner standing before a judge at risk of losing your homestead and you're aware of this goal to reduce the caseload, do you think you're going to get your fair day in court?" he said.

Officials for both circuits say case managers go through all the files and use a checklist to make sure the lender's attorney has all the proper documentation to proceed. Judges don't read the entire file, but they have this list to go by.

Judges are concerned about the possibility of fraud, said Thomas McGrady, chief judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit. But it's not the judge's responsibility to investigate the files.

Ron Stuart, spokesman for the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court, said case managers are doing a good job. So far, they've found insufficient pleadings or documentation in 227 cases in his circuit. All those cases were not allowed to move forward until fixed.

"This shows that we're doing exactly what the attorneys are claiming we're not doing," he said, noting that his circuit, which includes Pinellas and Pasco Counties, has found more of these problems than any other circuit in Florida.

Another concern of defense attorneys: a closed-door policy for something that should be open to the public.

"You get off the elevator now in Jacksonville and the doors leading to the foreclosure hearings are locked," Charney said. "A bailiff won't let you in until your scheduled hearing is to begin."

Randall Reder, a Tampa foreclosure defense attorney, said he has repeatedly seen homeowners and attorneys turned away from hearings. He said he now waits in the hallway until his case hearing because bailiffs won't let him in the hearing room to observe.

"The laws are very clear that all judicial proceedings are open to the public," Reder said. "But my automatic reaction is, 'you don't argue with someone carrying a gun.'"

Reder said he was successful getting dismissals for three of his cases Friday morning.

"It's all about what judge you get," Reder said. "If there was another judge there, I could have easily lost all three cases, even with the same evidence. Some judges don't listen, they just rubber stamp and approve the foreclosures."

The courts say it's not a matter of access but of space.

"The rooms are small and we have emotional issues here," Bridenback said. "We only have one bailiff, and there is a need for security."