(Since the prior photo wasn’t clearly enough a mock-up, I chose to put a photo of one of the real guards in its place)
If anyone else has a story like this, please let us know so we can stop this madness…
Since when were our courts restricted to the public!
Comment from a follower of the site…
I need support. here in Duval County Courts, as of July 1st, they have instituted a “Foreclosure Court” and my case was transferred there. I visitied the Court House today and went to the 5th Floor where the Court has been created. When the elevator door opened, I was greeted by a police officer, fully armed and he ask me where I was going. I replied “the new foreclosure court” He repsonded, “Are you an attorney?” I said “no, I am a pro-se defendant, defending my home.” He says “You can’t go in there, only attorney’s are allowed” When I ask why he responded “It’s a safety issue!” I said “I have already been searched and scanned at the door, what’s the issue?” He says, “Not my rule, don’t shoot the messenger” He then called back to the mysterious “backroom” court and a bubbly, one week new, representative appeared. “Hi I’m Rachael” I told her that I needed to get hearing time and she said she could not help as she is new, but took my phone number and vowed to call me. Why are the PEOPLE being shut out? The case has been pending for five years, I always had access to the Judge and his Judical Assistant prior to this NEW court, now I am not even allowed in the court room area. This is frightful, to say the least. What happened to “of the people, by the people and for the people”? Please, any assistance you can give will be greatly appreciated. God Bless
~
Since the prior photo wasn’t clearly enough a mock-up, I chose to put a photo of one of the real guards in its place… 🙂
I dunno, still looks kind of realistic. How do you feel about doing an article about the lack of information on foreclosure mediation that different court websites seem guilty of.
In comparison to the detailed info on how to take possession of a foreclosed home or purchase one, I would like to think that the courts would balance that info with info on how to contest foreclosure proceedings.
Yes, there is a lot of detailed information about taking possession of foreclosed homes, but very little info about how homeowners can obtain redress.
I wonder who the justice system really works for, don’t you?
First one was better… This is not US uniform, but funny! Last time I was in Court there was gray Police Officer… They changed all the time… Do not worry, your photos just fine…
It is not necessarily a good thing if some people think it is real because the story accompanying the photo appears to be real. Mixing a real story with a mock up can in some instances weaken the actual story.
This is true: Foreclosure Division does not exist, no website, no Order of Supreme Court exists. This is “Mediation Program” for new Cases. I’m Pro Se, second year in Foreclosure proceeding with DUMMY PLAINTIFF – Wells Fargo Bank I never heard about. i got loan from Bank of America & my pertfolio STILL in its computer System. BOA hired the Marshall C. Watson, but i moved for Production, Written Interrogatories, for Admission and they withdrew immediatelly. Now I have opposing Liebler, Gonzalez & Portuondo PA from Miami. Six months gone: they produce “ZERO”. Case DEAD long time. BOA originated FRAUDULENT LOAN, they misplaced my mo. payments (I did many times payments ahead!). I checked address they provided & found that this is PRIVATE address, not office. They made fake Appraisal including two lots of land. One day I woke up and saw: people are building a house on ‘my’ property…BOA used my CLOSED account for 3 years buying electronics, diamonds and sending bills to me. I never paid. This year i got package from them: they forgave me more than $4,000.00 of “my DEBT”. New F/Divis. inovated STAMP: “Your Mo. consedered & denied” . They placed istamp at first page of my courtesy copy and returned it to me. Denied does not mean striken… I INVITE EVERYONE TO ATTEND MY 1ST HEARING WITH THEM ON SEPT. 1, 2010 AT 11:30 AM. ROOM 510, DUVAL COUNTY COURTHO– USE. Let’s test our OPEN PUBLIC COURT. Actually, I am affraid to go alone, I’m 63 y.o. woman (Russian-American), I have accent, but I had no opportunity even open my mouth during four hearings before Circuit Judge I disqualified. They push my case to these F/D under lock. Photo may be not from this Courthouse, but 100% TRUE. I told the quard, “If you hve gun, I need something to have too …for defense from you!” He smiled. I have already two Orders from this F/D, signed by the same judge, but signatures COMPLETELY DIFFERENT… They “decide” things BEFORE HEARING in EX-PARTE communication. We need to report this ILLEGAL F/D to FBI or our beautiful America will be turn into Haiti or else… Welcome to Terrifying State of Florida! My Case No.: 16-2009-CA-011566-xxxx-MA. Try to open if it so “public” . I need a support group at hearing. please come, take your CAMERA if you can. Thank you.
O.K., I attended my first Hearing in, so called ‘Foreclosure Court’ or Division (F/D). Judge Soud had absolutely UNCOMPROMISSING, UNCOMMUNICATIVE and ADAMANT face. I am not sure that it is good attitude for mediation or else. First of all: there is NO ANY F/D exist in Florida. We have 20 Circuit Courts, all of them had the Fla. Supreme Court Administrative Order AOSC09-54 about RMFM (Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program) for ALL NEWLY FILED mortgage foreclosure action. 4th Judicial Circuit has ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER DRAFT – NO.2010-1. #9 of this Order, “Nonparticipation by Borrower” provides Form to file if borrower elects not to participate in the RMFM Program. I filed this Form on June 18, 2010. But it still unsigned by Program Manager. There are “Rules for Certified & Court-Appointed Mediators”, 10.340 (e) Senior Judge. “A mediator shall not serve as a mediator in any case in which the mediator is currently presiding as a senior judge”, “The mediator shall disclose such fact prior to mediation”. Rule 10.370 “…a mediator may provide information that the mediator is QUALIFIED BY TRAINING… R. 10.380, Committee Notes: “…a mediator should ensure that the participants FULLY UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF THE PROCESS (also: R. 10.370(c). R.10.300 “…it [mediation] IS NOT ADJUDICATORY PROCEDURE. R. 10.310 “A mediator shall not make substantive decisions for any party”. R. 10.310 “A MEDIATOR SHALL NOT COERCE OR IMPROPERLY INFLUENCE ANY PARTY TO MAKE A DECISION OR UNWILLINGLY PARTICIPATE IN A MEDIATION” . I was invited into misterious Room 510 at 11:40. The Security Officer followed me. The opposing Lawyer Mr. Villanueva entered FREELY this Room at 11;15 am or BEFORE HEARING. His Mo. has been granted long time ago without Hearing, he, any way, did not cancel the hearing. So, I was “blessed” by 9 (nine!)seconds hearing and my first Question (Q.) to Senior Judge A.C. Soud was, “Are you a Mediator or Judge?” He said, “Judge”. My second Q. was fatal and terminated the Hearing immediately. I asked, “If this is Foreclosure Court can I see the Order establishing this Court”. Judge SOUD said, “I don’t want to talk about it. Officer, take her out!” Sec. officer Mr. NARLOW grab my shoulder immediately and tried to drag me from Room. I said, “Do not touch me, I’ll go out there with pleasure! Let me take my papers and purse… My case has been re-assigned to Judge Johnson, where from these THREE “PRESIDING” JUDGES: A.C. SOUD, AARON BOWDEN and CHARLES WEATHERBY on my head. How many “presiding” judges needs ONE Case? I have three DENIAL ORDERS decided EX-PARTE from three different Judges… However, no one Judge read my Case because if they did, they could recognized that there is NO STANDING, NO PLAINTIFF and WELLS FARGO BANK’S CASE MUST BE DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE because Bank of America NEVER TRANSFERRED my Mortgage to Wells Fargo. How easy, even cave man can understand! JUSTICE, auh-h, where are you?
I don’t understand why the Duval court system seems to think of foreclosures as a done deed. (pardon the pun).
I clicked on their foreclosure link and it seems to talk more about the sale of foreclosed homes then the proceedings leading up to the foreclosure. http://duvalclerk.com/ccWebsite/Foreclosure.department
I also noticed they now videotape weddings held on their grounds. They see to be about making money, no?
in 2009, the Florida Bar printed this very interesting document on making sure that homeowners had an opportunity to speak to decision makers from the plaintiffs before a summary judgement was heard on their case. Here is the link. http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN/JNnews01.nsf/8c9f13012b96736985256aa900624829/c781a26152b0e624852575620069799c?OpenDocument
Is this true, is Duvall county court doing this? Is it mentioned on their website?
orange county is the same way
This needs to be changed. Who is the decider for each court system when it comes to having content for grabbing foreclosed property but no or little content for how to keep a home from foreclosure?
All the photos on this site are montages. When Michael (not me; the other Michael) displays an image of a nuclear bomb it doesn’t mean a nuke has gone off.
These reports have been coming in droves for awhile now but if you don’t believe them call the Courthouse and ask.
Pretty sure it’d be a Writ of Prohibition, and it’s probably past time. No more secret foreclosure hearings. Push it quickly up through the appellate system; if the FL Supreme Court somehow upheld this practice I’d be surprised if the US Supreme Court found it anything except repulsive. Lately those appointed for life with no right to reduce pay provision in the Constitution are beginning to make a lot more sense.
I’d file a motion for a public hearing. Then, I would send a letter to the judge with a courtesy copy of the motion asking him when time is available on his next uniform motion calendar. I had to do this with Judge Gregory P. Holder once, and he rescheduled the hearing from being held in his chambers to a public courtroom right away. If you are not being allowed to schedule a hearing, then I’d file a motion to schedule a hearing and do like suggested with the motion for public hearing. In my letter to the judge, I’d also include a public records request for copies of all documents concerning closing hearings to the public and/or parties who are not represented by an attorney and copies of all documents concerning prohibiting the scheduling of hearings by un-represented parties.
This might open these proceedings back up, but if not, then I’d go back with a camera, a witness, a camera request, and a public records request. This would probably work and also result in an interesting video. I’ve got a booklet on how to get a camera into Florida’s courts with sample forms available. If anyone is interested, contact me through my web site at http://www.markadamsjdmba.com/
my understanding of the internet is that for a story to go viral, other bloggers repost the story on their sites until it attracts a major news outlet. In this instance, the montage is too close to being viewed as the real thing that it may prevent this story from getting bigger.
I was going to reprint this story with an originating link because of the photo, until I realized it was not real. How about someone in the area snap a photo of the location, that alone would be solid.
Please the host of this site is not making this stuff up… so the photo is a montage… so what… and just for the record the graphics and images (some) are quite witty and clever.
It would be interesting to know however who the lawyer was in the case of this person above… Stern, Shapiro??? They must be scared out of their witts these days. Stern has some pretty big enemies out there other then the homeowner. And now that Shapiro,LOG’s…etal are newly minted “strategic defaulter’s” on their commercial property they should not be allowed in any court… Wonder how Terrance Edward’s of Fannie Mae feels about all this as his past employer PHH Mortgage Corporation use the Shapiro Network of Attorneys all over the US.
To Mr. Edwards…. Gerald M. Shaprio is a “stratigic defaulter”
Dear God….what is this country coming to? I pray that this type of action will be halted and pronto. I believe the homeowner has every right to be present in the courtroom for their hearing. The worst criminal is permitted in court for his/her hearing so what’s the deal with this?
Monday Aug 23, 2010. Cour room 4A Palm Beach County Courthouse. I was with a friend who had a hearing at 9am. We were greeted by the Floor Receptionist and told we had to wait for our team……Now they are calling them teams…….the Plaintiff and the Defendant……..my friend was Pro Se. We still had to wait for the Plaintiff to arrive……She was 20 minutes late………there was an armed guard outside the door of Court room 4A. As we approached to enter, with our team, I was asked if I was party to the hearing I said I was with my friend, the next best friend, and observing , the guard told me I could not go in. I asked why, she said because I was not a party to the case, I said I have never been refused entrance before, and the guard said I could not go in. I asked if she was denying the public the right to enter the courtroom and she told me I would have to wait outside…….that there was not enough room…….I waited outside for 10-15 minutes made a couple of phone calls and then she said I could go in…….There were plenty of seats when I went in…….So I was rather concerned that I was denied access to our public court rooms. But you feel helpless up against them….I felt like my rights were being violated…….
“We hold that all trials, civil and criminal, are public events and there is a strong presumption of public access to these proceedings and their records, subject to certain narrowly defined exceptions….
At the outset, we hold that both civil and criminal court proceedings in Florida are public events and adhere to the well established common law right of access to court proceedings and records. In Craig v. Harney, 331 U.S. 367, 374, 67 S.Ct. 1249, 1254, 91 L.Ed. 1546 (1947), the United States Supreme Court held: “A trial is a public event. What transpires in the court room is public property…. There is no special perquisite of the judiciary which enables it, as distinguished from other institutions of democratic government, to suppress, edit, or censor events which transpire in proceedings before it…
In this country it is a first principle that the people have the right to know what is done in their courts. The old theory of government which invested royalty with an assumed perfection, precluding the possibility of wrong, and denying the right to discuss its conduct of public affairs, is opposed to the genius of our institutions, in which the sovereign will of the people is the paramount idea; and the greatest publicity to the acts of those holding positions of public trust, and the greatest freedom in the discussion of the proceedings of public tribunals that is consistent with truth and decency, are regarded as essential to the public welfare.”
Barron v. Florida Freedom Newspapers, Inc., 531 So. 2d 113 (Fla. 1988).
The three entirely inapplicable provisions are for extreme cases; I’ve never heard of one outside of family or criminal court, and even then secret trials are virtually never allowed. They are:
1. Closure is necessary to prevent a serious and imminent threat to the administration of justice;
2. No alternatives are available, other than a change of venue, which would protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial; and
3. Closure would be effective in protecting the rights of the accused, without being broader than necessary to accomplish this purpose.
Note on #1 for a judge who tries to press this: imminent threat — foreclosure court comes nowhere close.
Foreclosure Court has become a US Star Chamber, where hearings — overwhelmingly evictions (since the King held all land foreclosures were evictions back then) — were held in secret, where a person automatically lost if they didn’t hire a lawyer, where the rule of law was entirely abandoned.
For the mealy headed who think this only applies to newspapers read the opinion (http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/education/cybercourt/1999/may/barron.html); they’re very clear that Court’s are open to anybody at all.
It is not too extreme to say that what is happening around the country is reaching a boiling point: the stirrings of a second civil war are afoot. The most basic freedoms and protections American’s enjoy are being systematically stripped to protect government lapdogs to the banking industry — an industry desperate to be held harmless from its own foolish decisions — from facing the public ridicule and admonishment they deserve.
I just took a second look at the photo. It’s a fake. Please try and get something AUTHENTIC otherwise the entire story will get marginalized.
Try going into a courthouse with a camera. Even though you have a right to do so, most people other than the “news” media and me get turned away. I usually get in because I know the law, I bring it with me, and my camera request is really scary to the power usurping scum and their henchmen.
I believe the story, but the picture looks like it was recreated. Can the history of the photo be explained please?
I will gladly run with this story if I know the photo is legit.
Alessandro – the picture is most definitely created. Do you really believe the cops at the elevator would allow their picture to be taken? It’s a representation of what is happening and I believe the writers here had no intention of making it look otherwise. If you want to run the story, do so. I’m shaking my head at why you are so hung up on this photo.
Are you referring to the original photo or the new one? The story in general would be much more powerful with a real photo, or perhaps even a picture of the sign that says no one beyond this point.
American law enforcement, like the king’s men and the SS, just follow orders because they are completely ignorant of the U.S. Constitution and also in this case, the Constitution of Florida. Has anyone ever heard that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it? What was once said about the defense that I was just following orders?
Of course, the judge who drafted and entered orders forbidding entry into a public courtroom is supposed to have a basic knowledge of Constitutional law and since the fall of 2008 Floriduh’s judges have been sworn to uphold it. If they would have bothered reading either of the Constitutions which they are supposed to study in law school and baby judges’ school, then they would have realized that they have been required to swear an oath to uphold them since they were ratified, but that is just another example of ignorance of the law.
Anyway, are judges above the law or are they supposed to follow it? Is it a crime when a judge ignores the law and violates a person’s Constitutional rights or can judges do as they please?
Since no one seems to know nothing bout them there Constitutional rights no more, perhaps they need some explaining. The 1st and 6th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution require government agents to allow anyone who wants to attend a court proceeding to do so. Article I §§ 4, 21 and 24 of the Constitution of Florida also require the courthouse to be open to the public.
Maybe judges should have to take the Bar exam again before being placed onto their thrones, or perhaps there should be a judicial literacy test for Floriduh’s judges. I asked one judge if he could read when I deposed him, and I’ve got it on film. If anyone wants to see it, just let me know, and I’ll post it.
Of course, although these Amendments and Articles have not been amended, legislatures have passed laws and judges have allowed some proceedings to be closed to the public, such as juvenile proceedings, but before this, I have never heard of any government agent daring to exclude a party from access to a court unless they had an attorney to obtain access for them. I bet the Floriduh Bar was all for this though.
Of course, due to the government controlled “educational” system, most people, even judges and attorneys, have no idea that violating Constitutional rights is a felony violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242. See U.S. v. Lanier, 520 U.S. 259 at http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/95-1717.ZS.html By the way, Lanier is about a judge being prosecuted. Of course, he raped at least 5 women in his chambers, so the prosecuting princes couldn’t look the other way when so many people knew about those crimes. The prosecuting princes also had to take action more recently when judges in Houston and Mobile were finally prosecuted for raping people including defendants in their chambers.
I wonder which moronic judge signed this order keeping all non-attorneys from entering his courtroom and also apparently from scheduling hearings. I wonder if he helped anyone steal any homes back there in his secret star chamber. Perhaps a public records request would be appropriate. Contact me at http://www.markadamsjdmba.com/ and I’ll send you the form that I use to request public records from agents of the government of the banana republic of Florida.
If anyone wants to know how liberty and justice were supposed to be secured, see Why Does the Government Ignore Our Wishes? at http://dailycensored.com/2009/09/11/why-does-the-government-ignore-our-wishes/ and don’t miss my short speech.
If you take a look, you’ll learn why banksters, their attorneys, regulators, and judges can get away with violating our rights, abusing their power, stealing homes and committing horrible crimes. My article on torture includes a link to the U.S. Supreme Court case which explains how one of our stolen rights makes the difference between justice and injustice, between freedom and slavery.
writ of mandamus is in order.
File a complaint with Florida AG. You have every right to appear pro se in any and all legal matters. This site is the best. I am going to battle One West Bank and the cockroaches that control it Soros, Paulson and Goldman. This nonsense has to end. One set of laws for the chosen few and the working class gets the shaft as usual. DO NOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!