Bank of America May Owe Lawyers $11 Million
(CN) – A Plantation, Fla., law firm can seek $11 million in unpaid legal fees for its work on Bank of America foreclosure cases, a federal judge ruled.
The Law Offices of David J. Stern says it was the legal counsel for Bank of America’s Florida residential foreclosure cases across the state, employing some 1,200 attorneys andsupport staff at its peak.
Plantation, Fla., is one hour north of Miami in Broward County.
Stern’s 11-count complaint claims that Bank of America and its corporate parent owe more than $1.9 million, while BAC Home Loans Servicing owes more than $8.7 million.
The BAC tally reflects that work that Stern allegedly performed for Countrywide Home Loans, which Bank of America bought in 2008 and merged with its loan-servicing operation.
Stern says it entered into a written contract with Countrywide in 2003 and entered into two oral contracts with Bank of America for legal services.
Exhibits to the complaint include the written contract and hundreds of pages of billing totals.
Bank of America moved to dismiss 10 of Stern’s 11 claims, claiming that the breach-of-contract claim against BAC is the only viable allegation because it relies on a written contract.
It also says Florida’s Statute of Frauds bars enforcement of oral contracts because the firm cites at least two years of work, yet never memorialized the oral contract with a written document.
U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno disagreed since the statute bars indefinite oral contracts that necessarily require more than one year of work.
“Nothing in Plaintiff’s allegations indicates that the parties’ understanding was that the contract would extend beyond a year,” Moreno wrote. “The court does not find the Statute of Frauds bars plaintiff’s claim for breach of oral contract because the plaintiff alleges that it fully performed under the oral contract.”
Moreno also disagreed that the open-account claims should be thrown out as duplicative of the breach-of-contract claims. “The Plaintiff met the requirements of both the Florida forms and the federal forms to state a claim for open account,” the nine-page decision states.
As to the account-stated claims, Bank of America said it never agreed to pay the amount due.
But Moreno said, “This simply is not the case.”
“The amended complaint alleges that defendants agreed to the balance and did not object to the statements,” he wrote. “Accordingly, the court finds the plaintiff sufficiently states a claim for account stated.”
Moreno also rejected the bank’s assertion that the quantum-meruit claim is invalid because the law firm has claims for breach of an oral agreement.
“The court finds plaintiff is entitled to plead this alternative theory of recovery and denies the motion to dismiss,” Moreno wrote.
Copy of the ruling below…
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4closureFraud.org
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DAVID J. STERN vs BANK OF AMERICA
Could he be running out of money to pay his monthly bills? Maybe he would like a loan mod?…if that fails…hope for homeowners will help him cope with the possibility of being thrown out into the street…and try to talk him out of suicide…and tell him people are moving into apartments…..get a grip….you can do a short sale…and give the Bank complete debt forgiveness for the money they never lent you…by now the phone is ringing incessantly….bill collectors……your porsche and yacht are going to be repossessed….credit lines a thing of the past……now you are just another deadbeat who bought a house and lots of stuff that you couldn’t afford ….damned deadbeat….!
Now does this mean this proves BOA knows they hired a crook, so we can have another reason to go after BOA, and how does a crook get paid for being a crook? Like to see the language in these cases.
I am sure BOA knew full well they had hired a crook to do a crooks job. Now Stern owes the people he screwed, and jail time. What he did is not reckless, it is illegal and jailable crime.
Haha Stern-B of A will Foreclosure on you too !
Eventually Bank of America will be filing BK and shut down….
Hope it is sooner than later.
PS hope you all sue each other to death ! it will be a pleasure to watch.
Follow the money!
follow the money… to the cayman islands.
Native Americans had more respect for their ancestral burial grounds than our culture is displaying.
Look at the miss-deeds of our military members in urinating on fallen opponents in Afghanistan, done with total disregard for the potential repercussions that could endanger other US troops. Look at the improper handling of US troops body parts by our own military that was reported on the east coast in the media.
With this backdrop, does it REALLY seem out of step for our current burial grounds to also be desecrated? Really? Isn’t it only the next step is showing how low we as a culture have stooped? The disregard for the law and outrageous treatment of our citizens by ‘our’ court system has contributed to the disenfranchisement of our citizens, along with the inability of tour working class to find meaningful work. Our system of values has been under attack for too long and that attack has widened to the point that this possible outcome for a cemetery is a result.
Oops, I meant this to be posted on the post about the cemetery that is up for auction.
What really strikes me is the fact that many people are being thown out on the street without due process and these greedy bastards are now sueing each other about oral contracts! What a bunch of shit. The homeowner is prevented from hiring an att. of their chose in CA. because of SB 94.and expected to face these corrupt judges in foreclosesure court without representation. Somethings going very wrong inthis country and soon they will they will get they’re comupance. Oh and by the way Sen. Ron Calerone chairs the Sen. Banking Comm. in CA.
THIS is likely why Stern is sitting on all those files that he ratted away in that warehouse in Orlando.
Hostage paper for his “Going Away Pay Day”
David makes Bernie look like a rank amateur…
It starts to actually get amusing when they feed upon each other…