It’s almost been 15 years since Max Gardner and Nye Lavalle met at a conference sponsored by National Consumer Law Center that was held in Colorado, and quickly found themselves viewed as, well… heretics might be the right word. The two became fast friends based on their shared views related to the mortgage servicing industry… and I think both knew that one plus one was about to equal eleven.
Nye was a successful sports marketer and entrepreneur, credited with correctly predicting that Nascar and figure skating would draw huge crowds back in the 1990s, but after being forced to contend with his own mortgage mess, he focused on learning everything about the mortgage industry. As Gretchen Morgenson said in her article about Nye that appeared recently in the New York Times… “In hindsight, the problems he found look like a blueprint of today’s foreclosure crisis.”
It’s hard to imagine two people more tenacious that Nye and Max. Nye became a shareholder in Fannie and stayed on Fannie’s case for two years until finally the GSE hired a DC law firm to investigate his claims. The 147-page report that resulted from that investigation verified that Nye’s suspicions were correct.
Having Nye Lavalle and Max Gardner together is a rare event. Together, they would have to be considered the founding fathers of today’s foreclosure defense movement, so this is an opportunity to learn how it all began and where two of the country’s leading experts see things going from here. Turn up your speakers because it’s time for a very special 2-part Mandelman Matters Podcast… Nye Lavalle & Max Gardner Together in Concert.
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Mandelman out.
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Thats exactly what I took away with the podcast. If you can find a lawyer “who gets it” you probably can’t aford them.What was really striking to me was that all of the laws already on the books were never enforced and if you didn’t know about them well, you are just shit out luck! Also I am wondering about the statute of limitations, do they apply when the fraud occurred or when you first discovered the fraud? Isn’t all this stuff moot the minute they securitized the loan, making the mortgage contract null and void? It seems to be that mant enitities had their fingers in all this. I am In Illinois and have called the Dept. of Veteran Affairs, the FBI, the States Attorney, the County Clerks Office, the County Recorders Officce and on and on….they ALL pretend to be completely ignorant on the subject inspite of all the evidence being put forth every day. Loooking through the Recorders Records it is still continueing to this day! There are forclosures all over my neighborhood and there’s no shortage of people buying them up. I pray everyday that these atrocities come to an end and our goverment does the right thing and gives the people back their property. That seems to be the only way to fix this mess. Give it back and start all over again. It appears to be a vicious cyle and it always revolves around the same brokers (banks) and title insurers. Audit all of them including the SEC or the “Wheels on the Bus” will keep going round and round……..I willl not rent my own property from the gov.t, everything they touch turns to shit. Also ours was a VA loan @ origination, when do the Statute of Limitations start running, when the fraud is discovered or when? Just when I think I have a handle on all this, my brain refuses to comprehend anymore information because every single ady I find proof of more and more fraud. I don’t think their is even a settlement just for that reason and the AG’s better be careful or they will become a part of these lawsuits. Where’s the IRS?
Statutes of limitations for fraud usually run from the date of discovery and are usually 6 years in most jurisdictions. If a judicial procedure as used to commit the fraud (judicial foreclosure states) you might have only 1 year to seek to vacate the judgment & then 6 years to pursue a new action in equity. What makes this so difficult for those of us who want to stop the systemic fraud is that each state has its own laws. For example, what I just said about 1 year & 6 years is true in Wisconsin (a judicial foreclosure state) but is not true in Minnesota (a nonjudicial foreclosure state.) Minnesota has a statute cutting most objections to “flaws” in the foreclosure process off at 1 year. Civil RICO has a statute of limitations of 4 years per the US Supreme Court. The criminal RICO statute of limitations (which the state AGs and the federal DOJ) should have been pursuing, in my opinion, is 5 years from the most recent predicate act in the jurisdiction where the charges are brought. Although the AG/DOJ settlement does not purport to release criminal charges, as a practical matter they may as well have done so. But racketeering continues. Bank of America is uttering newly created “blue ink” notes in Wisconsin as late as the end of last month. If you read the settlement, virtually every civil investigation by state and federal authorities concerning the 5 banks (except MERS) is released through 2/8/2012. I don’t think the AGs wrote the Exhibits and I think they signed off before the releases were prepared: a robo-signed settlement. The worst parts of the settlement are provisions that the US Trustees in bankruptcy stop all discovery of bankruptcy crimes and withdraw their subpoenas issued prior to 2/8/2012 and the specific release for taking homes without standing to do so prior to 2/8/2012. Homeowners still have their rights. Some of us are trying to figure out how to do this work on a shoestring budget. Stay strong and alert. Knowledge is power.
Max talks a good game but if you won’t file bankruptcy he will not represent you. Not alot of help for those being wrongfully foreclosed on who have not missed payments or who – as has happened frequently – don’t even have a mortgage. The fact is very few lawyers have the expertise or heart to truly stick it to these b@sturds, and those that do are out of reach for he average foreclosure fraud victim.
I took away only one thing from this podcast. The poor people of America has no chance against the courts and Bankers. What a joke .