The Foreclosure Defense Program
The staggering number of foreclosures has led to a virtual paralysis of the judicial system. Florida is one of the worst affected areas and the courts here are choked with foreclosure cases. This prompted Miami University’s Michael Froomkin to craft The Foreclosure Defense Program. It helps to engage young attorneys with the backlog of foreclosure cases. Over 50,000 filings have been posted only in Miami-Dade alone.
Many of the borrowers do not know where legal help is available. This assistance somewhat reduces the pain and lessens the expenses even if it cannot completely do away with foreclosure. Froomkin said, “Potentially, one of the most significant [defenses] is that the lender, because so many home loans were securitized during the housing boom, often doesn’t even know who owns the mortgage anymore.” One of the biggest tools being recently used is challenging the very right of the plaintiff to initiate the foreclosure process.
The senior lawyer of Legal Services of Greater Miami, Carolina Lombardi, is in charge of instructing some of the fledgling lawyers of Miami University. She said that the defendants in these foreclosure cases also should have attorneys to protect them from unjust escrow demands. He said, “Homeowners who have lawyers are usually prevailing in those cases.” But she observes that unless the borrowers are below the federally stipulated federal line of poverty ($22,000 for a family comprising of four members) they are not eligible for free legal assistance that her agency and others like her provide. This is a big hurdle for many of the foreclosure defendants who are not technically impoverished but due to unemployment and other related matters are at risk of losing their homes and cannot afford to hire a lawyer.
Another big hurdle is the foreclosure law. One young lawyer who has jumped into the fray to help indigent litigants, Yolanda Paschal, said, “It’s a labor-intensive area of practice. It involves a ton of paperwork.”
The pay offered to attorneys taking up foreclosure cases is relatively low said Melanca Clark of Brennan Center. She suggests that Congress and the legislators of the state should offer incentives to those defending the defendants. It should be at par with what the plaintiffs offer their representatives. Only then will the playing field be level. For instance there is the unfair practice of not allowing winning defendants in foreclosure cases to collect attorney fees. The restrictions on federal funding for legal services should be immediately removed. Structural reforms are badly needed.
