Florida Foreclosure Mills Now Under Investigation
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has launched investigations into three South Florida foreclosure law firms, and issued them all subpoenas seeking detailed financial, client and employee records.
Late last month, Fort Lauderdale solo practitioner Kenneth Trent filed a proposed federal class action against Stern alleging his firm filed fraudulent court pleadings and concealed lenders’ lack of standing to foreclose on properties. The firm denied the allegations.
…McCollum’s economic crimes division is investigating the Law Offices of David J. Stern of Plantation, the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson of Fort Lauderdale and Shapiro & Fishman of Boca Raton and Tampa for possible unfair and deceptive actions in handling foreclosure cases.
“…On numerous occasions, allegedly fabricated documents have been presented to the courts in foreclosure actions to obtain final judgments against homeowners,” McCollum’s office said in a news release. “Thousands of final judgments of foreclosure against Florida homeowners may have been the result of the allegedly improper actions of the law firms under investigation.”
…The investigations were welcomed by foreclosure defense lawyers, who have been filing civil lawsuits against the foreclosure law firms. The critics, who dub them as “mills,” claim the firms are rushing through large volumes of foreclosures on behalf of lenders, often improperly serving notice on homeowners and in some cases fabricating documents. Read more here…