Foreclosures and Some Unscrupulous Attorneys
Some unscrupulous attorneys are taking advantage of the foreclosure crisis to dupe their clients. Norman Sanders Moss, an Orlando attorney, was hired to recover money for homeowners from the sale of foreclosed properties as well as tax deed foreclosures. Instead of keeping the money in a trust account and disbursing it among his clients, he spent it. Moss, who had been debarred in Michigan in 1997, was subsequently arrested under charges of grand theft. His licence has been revoked by the Florida Bar. His trial comes up soon.
Between September 2007 and August 2008, 445 lawyers dealing with foreclosures have been reprimanded, put on probation, disbarred, or suspended by the Bar. 7,800 grievances against attorneys were investigated by the Bar at a cost of $10 million. Charges against the attorneys ranged from overcharging clients, taking money but not doing the work, not showing up in court, closing shop without telling clients and not calling back clients who phoned. In 6 percent of these complaints, the lawyers were punished. In other cases they were counseled, given substance-abuse treatment, made to attend workshops on ethics and so forth. About 80 percent of the complaints were dismissed on grounds of lack of evidence.
In case of a problem with your lawyer handling a foreclosure case, the following steps have been advocated by experts:
Try and resolve the problem with the attorney, either yourself, or through the Bar’s Attorney Consumer Assistance Programme which can phone the lawyer and resolve the problem. If this fails, then a written complaint can be filed with the Bar. The complaint should be based not on style of functioning but on failure to act or breach of ethics.
If the Bar prosecutes the attorney, the process can continue for anywhere between 6 months to two years. Punishment can vary from making the lawyer take classes on bookkeeping, sending him for anger-management counseling or substance-abuse treatment, suspension, probation, disbarment, public reprimand and so forth.
To avoid such problems, it is best to get recommendations from friends who have fought similar foreclosure cases before hiring an attorney. Referees could also include one’s employer, colleagues, banks and accountancies. Most counties and all state Bars have lawyer referral services.
Experts also suggest asking the attorney for phone numbers of other clients. If he refuses, then it is a warning. The attorney should give a contract detailing the service, the fees and clauses for termination of the relationship. He should also give a receipt.
