Fraudclosure

Foreclosure attorney violated rules by having others sign his name, court finds

Sanctions, if any, will be determined by Court of Appeals

A Hunt Valley attorney who admitted to having his employees sign his name to foreclosure documents was found by a Baltimore County judge to have violated three of Maryland’s rules of professional conduct for lawyers, according to court records.

Thomas P. Dore engaged in behavior that was “prejudicial to the administration of justice” by “routinely and repeatedly” filing “with the courts affidavits purportedly signed by him and attested to by notaries” he employed, according to court documents. Affidavits are the written equivalent of taking the stand to testify under oath and Maryland law does not allow for them to be signed by a proxy.

The decision against Dore is the latest stemming from a series of petitions by the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission against lawyers who, during the height of the foreclosure crisis, cut corners in thousands of foreclosure cases in order to manage overwhelming workloads. So far, one attorney has been reprimanded by the state’s highest court for such behavior and several other cases are working their way through the legal system.

Dore also violated his professional obligations by knowingly making false statements in court documents and failing to properly oversee non-lawyers at his firm, according to the decision. An additional charge by the state’s grievance panel that Dore engaged in “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation” was dismissed by Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Justin J. King.

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