4closureFraud.org in the NY Law Journal at Law.com

Quiet Judge Facing a Foreclosure Crush Gets Lenders’ Attention

Mark Fass
New York Law Journal
July 15, 2010

The judge’s decisions have been covered everywhere from Reuters (“Hero of the day: Jeffrey Spinner“) to the blog 4closureFraud (“Another NY Style beat down“) to London’s Daily Mail (“Couple’s £370,000 mortgage wiped out by judge angry at bank’s ‘repulsive’ behaviour“).

Excerpts from the report from the NY Law Journal at Law.com

At first blush, Suffolk County Acting Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Arlen Spinner (See Profile) seems an unlikely figure to strike fear in attorneys.

But the 12-year veteran of the Suffolk bench has also issued three foreclosure decisions over the past eight months that have made him the darling of the tabloids and the Internet for, as the New York Post put it, sticking it to “ruthless bankers.”

The cases that are being referred to are;

This Judge “Gets It” Indymac Bank F.S.B. v Yano-Horoski

Indymac Bank F.S.B. v Yano-Horoski “Upon the Court’s own motion, it is ORDERED that the Adjustable Rate Note in the amount of $ 292,500.00 dated August 4, 2004 made by Diana J. Yano-Horoski in favor of IndyMac Bank F.S.B. shall be and the same is hereby cancelled, voided, avoided, nullified, set aside…

Locked Out – NY Judge Spinner Awards Homeowner $155,092 against Plaintiff WELLS FARGO BANK N.A. for Entering Dwelling Wrongfully and Without Justification on at Least Two Separate Occasions

ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that the Defendant STEVEN E. TYSON residing at 3 Danville Court, Greenlawn, New York 11740 recover judgment against the Plaintiff WELLS FARGO BANK N.A. with an office located at 3476 Stateview Boulevard, Fort Mill, South Carolina 29715 the sum of $ 200.00 for damages resulting from trespass, together with the sum of $ 4,892.00 for actual loss, together with the sum of $ 150,000.00 for exemplary damages, for a total recovery of $ 155,092.00 and that the Defendant have execution therefor. The Clerk of Suffolk County is directed to enter judgment accordingly.

Another NY Style Beat Down – Judge Jeffrey Spinner Get’s it – Sanctions Bank $100,000 for “Outrageous, Improper and Wrongful Activities”

ORDERED , ADJUDGED and DECREED that Plaintiff, its successors, assigns and others are forever barred, foreclosed and prohibited from demanding, collecting or attempting to collect, directly or indirectly, any and all of the sums in this proceeding delineated as interest, default interest, attorney’s fees, legal fees, costs, disbursements, advances or any sums other than the principal balance, that may have accrued from May 1, 2008 up to the date of this Order; and it is further

ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that Defendants ANTHONY J. CORCIONE and JANE CORCIONE residing at 66 Circle Drive, East Northport, New York 11731 recover judgment against Plaintiff EMIGRANT MORTGAGE COMPANY INC. with an office located at 5 East 42nd Street, New York, New York 10017 in the principal sum of $ 100,000.00 representing exemplary damages, and that Defendants have execution therefor. The Clerk of Suffolk County is directed to enter judgment accordingly.

Those three decisions have gotten the attention of not only the press and hopeful homeowners, but also of banks and their attorneys.

One sign that the banks now tread carefully in Justice Spinner’s Riverhead courtroom is the number of veteran bank attorneys who appear at the mandatory settlement conferences.

Jonathan Ullman, a Syosset attorney who has represented banks for more than 19 years said…

“Banks no longer entrust cases before him to junior associates: The possibility of losing, and losing big, has become too real.”

“The banks are scared to death of Judge Spinner,” Mr. Ullman said. “If you go to the rest of the parts, you won’t see anything like this.”

Got that everyone? The banks are scared to death of this judge. He is not allowing them to trample all over his court and the homeowners before him. He is holding them up to the standard of law that all judges should hold them to. That is all we ask. Follow the laws that have been in place for hundreds of years and stop letting these “lenders” make everything up as they go.

Just because this is “Foreclosure World” it does not give anyone the right to ignore the law. The practices that are taking place in “Foreclosure World” would not be accepted in ANY other area of the law.

One day this foreclosure crisis will be over. What will happen then? Will these attorneys that have been lying and fabricating evidence with the do whatever it takes attitude to win venture into other areas of law?

How would you like to see these same tactics happening in family law where an attorney fabricates evidence or false witnesses to prevent someone from seeing their children again?

Or how about in criminal law where someone is sentenced to death on knowingly false evidence and statements? Why not, anything to win right?

Anyway back to the article…

Rising Tide of Foreclosures

As that tide has risen, several Supreme Court judges have developed reputations for discarding the rubber stamp to which many banks had become accustomed.

Brooklyn’s Justice Arthur Schack (See Profile) is known for rejecting foreclosure petitions because of shoddy or questionable paperwork by the mortgagees…

Some recent Schack cases;

“The MERS Mortgage Twilight Zone” Case Dismissed WITH Prejudice – Hon. Arthur M. Schack Slams HSBC Attorney Firm Steven J Baum, PC

Moreover, even if the instant motion was timely, the explanations offered by plaintiff’s counsel, in his affirmation in support of the instant motion and various documents attached to exhibit F of the instant motion, attempting to cure the four defects explained by the Court in the prior May 2, 2008 decision and order, are so incredible, outrageous, ludicrous and disingenuous that they should have been authored by the late Rod Serling, creator of the famous science-fiction televison series, The Twilight Zone. Plaintiff’s counsel, Steven J. Baum, P.C., appears to be operating in a parallel mortgage universe, unrelated to the real universe. Rod Serling’s opening narration, to episodes in the 1961 – 1962 season of The Twilight Zone (found at www.imdb.com/title/tt005250/quotes), could have been an introduction to the arguments presented in support of the instant motion by plaintiff’s counsel, Steven J. Baum, P.C. – “You are [*7]traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone.”

Another Brooklyn Beatdown – Hon. Arthur M. Schack – Plaintiff U.S. BANK Never had Standing to Prosecute this Action Because of an Ineffective Assignment

Further, even if this action was not dismissed, there is a conflict of interest in that [*2]plaintiff’s counsel, Steven J. Baum, P.C., appears to be in violation of 22 NYCRR § 1200.0 (Rules of Professional Conduct, effective April 1, 2009) Rule 1.7, “Conflict of Interest: Current Clients.” The Baum firm represents both MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS [MERS], as nominee for FREMONT INVESTMENT AND LOAN [FREMONT], the ineffective assignor of the instant mortgage, and plaintiff U.S. BANK, the ineffective assignee of the instant mortgage. If the Court did not dismiss the action, the Court would need proof, in an affirmation by Steven J. Baum, Esq., the principal of Steven J. Baum, P.C., that both MERS, as nominee for FREMONT, and U.S. BANK each gave “informed consent, confirmed in writing” to the concurrent conflict of interest in their representation by Steven J. Baum, P.C., with both MERS, as nominee for FREMONT, and U.S. BANK each being “aware of the relevant circumstances, including the material and reasonably foreseeable ways that the conflict could adversely affect the interests of that client.”

Brooklyn Beatdown – Hon. Arthur M. Schack – Foreclosure Judgement and Sale Vacated, Case Dismissed WITH Prejudice

Accordingly, it is ORDERED, that the order to show cause of defendant IVY MAE JOHNSON, to vacate the January 16, 2008 judgment of foreclosure and sale for the premises located at 47 Rockaway Parkway, Brooklyn, New York (Block 4600, Lot 55, County of Kings), pursuant to CPLR Rule 5015 (a) (4), because plaintiff, JP MORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS TRUSTEE FOR NOMURA ASSET ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2004-AR4, lacked standing to commence the instant action and thus, the Court never had jurisdiction, is granted; and it is further  ORDERED, the instant complaint of plaintiff JP MORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS TRUSTEE FOR NOMURA ASSET ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2004-AR4 for the foreclosure on the premises located at 47 Rockaway Parkway, Brooklyn, New York (Block 4600, Lot 55, County of Kings) is dismissed with prejudice.

Judge Schack Does it Again! Wells Fargo Motion for Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale for the Premises is DENIED WITH PREJUDICE Complaint is Dismissed

In this mortgage foreclosure action, plaintiff’s motion for judgment of foreclosure and sale for the premises located at 1917 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, New York (Block 1446, Lot 55, County of Kings) is denied with prejudice. The complaint is dismissed. The notice of pendency filed against the above-named real property is cancelled. Plaintiff, WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A. d/b/a AMERICAS SERVICING COMPANY (WELLS FARGO), lacks standing to continue this action because the instant mortgage was satisfied on May 20, 2009. Plaintiff’s counsel never notified the Court that the mortgage had been satisfied and failed to discontinue the instant action with prejudice. I discovered that the mortgage had been satisfied by personally searching the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) website of the Office of the City Register, New York City Department of Finance. Plaintiff’s counsel, Peter G. Zavatsky, Esq., and his firm, Zavatsky, Mendelsohn & Levy, LLP, will be given an opportunity to be heard as to why this Court should not sanction them for making a “frivolous motion,”

Justice Timothy J. Walker of Buffalo (See Profile) recently dismissed a foreclosure action after Wells Fargo insisted on including an adjustable-rate clause in its loan modification, despite the wide-spread criticism of adjustable rates and the judge’s previous order requiring the bank to offer a loan without such a clause.

And in Suffolk County, which is home to one-fourteenth of the state’s population but one-sixth of its new foreclosures, Justice Spinner has gained a small measure of celebrity within the ever-expanding foreclosure community.

The judge’s decisions have been covered everywhere from Reuters (“Hero of the day: Jeffrey Spinner“) to the blog 4closureFraud (“Another NY Style beat down“) to London’s Daily Mail (“Couple’s £370,000 mortgage wiped out by judge angry at bank’s ‘repulsive’ behaviour“).

As the presiding judge of the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Conference Part for the past 18 months, Justice Spinner has overseen Suffolk County’s efforts to process the onslaught of foreclosures by implementing new court procedures and managing the mandatory settlement negotiations for subprime mortgages.

Thank you Honorable Judges for holding these “lenders” up to the highest standards of the law. History will look back  back upon you as hero’s and pioneer’s in the greatest crisis this country has ever seen…

Read article in its entirety here…

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4closureFraud.org