Judge chastises foreclosure law firm chiefs

Column

St. Petersburg foreclosure court judge Pamela Campbell is fed up with foreclosure law firms' errors and missed hearings.

So today, she ordered the heads of two major law firms that handle foreclosures on behalf of banks to show up in her Pinellas County courtroom to explain themselves.

It didn't matter that they're based in Ft. Lauderdale.

Roy Diaz, Of  Smith, Hiatt & Diaz and Marshall Watson, of the firm Marshall C. Watson both appeared before Judge Campbell, who asked them about problematic foreclosure documentation and reports of their firm sending homeowners to the wrong courthouse.

"Go to your basic roots of when you were in law school," she said, chastising the lawyers.

This isn't the first time the Marshall Watson firm has been in hot water. It settled an investigation in March with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Bondi accused the firm of routinely mishandling paperwork, and Watson agreed to pay $2 million to the state.

It's also not the first time Watson appeared before Judge Campbell either. Last summer, he was here for the same reasons.

The judge wanted to know why some cases were languishing and blamed the attorneys for not paying better attention. Campbell said she called them to court because she's tired of them blocking off time for cases, then sending unprepared junior lawyers.

"Some of these cases are '07, '08 cases," she told the attorneys. "We need to move them along. To me, you've done a disservice to your clients and to the courts."

Both attorneys promised their teams of lawyers would pay better attention.

"I appreciate the seriousness of this and sincerely apologize," said Diaz.

Watson recently started using a local attorney to represent his cases, but the judge said that's too much work for one attorney to handle.

Judge Campbell's verdict: She revoked phone privileges for both firms that allowed them to appear in court by phone. In other words, the South Florida firms will have to send a lawyer in person to present cases from now on.

sbehnken@tampatrib.com

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