350,000 Pending Foreclosure Cases in Florida
Photo by Khrawlings
In the last week, lenders from different courts all over of the nation, which are all overrun with foreclosure cases, gathered at a discussion session where they brought up matters of bank honesty and attorney civility in foreclosure issues. They also foresaw estimated a huge number of pending foreclosure cases in Florida. The officials at the meeting believed that there could be around 350,000 cases still to be heard.
Bankruptcy and Foreclosure, a View from the Bench is the forum which invited the judges and attorneys from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties to discuss matters pertaining to foreclosures. Both attorneys and judges got the chance to inform each other about foreclosure matters that were occurring outside the courthouse environment.
The attorneys asked a number of things to the judges, and even the judges also described the nature and behavior of property owners and lenders. In the question-answer session, some replies were met with uncomfortable silence from federa, judges when questions of non-judicial foreclosure cases and dubious mortgage documents holding fake signs arose.
The Circuit Judge of Miami-Dade, Ronald Dresnick, slashed out at the lenders and borrowers for such a slow pace in the foreclosure process, stating that this only making courthouse matters slow. Another foreclosure judge of Broward, Marina Gracia-Wood, said that nearly 7,000 pending foreclosure cases are waiting to be brought to court in her system.
Dresnick said, “The thing nobody gives a fig about is moving these cases. Defendants don’t want the cases moved and I’m scratching my head about why the plaintiffs don’t want to move the cases. It’s pathetic”. He is referring to all the pending foreclosure cases that have been brought to court in the state of Florida.
Former Chief Judge of Broward, Victor Tobin, controlled a panel which dealt with the state of the foreclosure cases in different courts. However, in May, he submitted his resignation to the bench and joined the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson. “My job is to oversee the operation as best I can. That was my job in the courthouse also,” he said.
There was only another judge from Palm Beach County who joined the forum for the discussion; his name was Robert Carney. In the forum, this senior judge described how the spike in the foreclosure cases (which came to a head in the courthouses between the years of 2009 and 2010). Foreclosures really slowed down during the end of 2010 due to fraudulent foreclosure cases and the robo-signing scandal.
Gracia-Wood mentioned that 250 cases are handled on a regular basis in her court. She also commented about the sincere way attorneys handled court cases nowadays. She said, “If you’re not happy about the court’s ruling, instead of rolling your eyes or murmuring under your breath, show me why I should rule in your favor. I’m trying to do the best I can.”
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