The Florida House and the Florida Senate will both take up versions of the foreclosure “reform” legislation that is currently snaking its way through the Capitol. For those of you that will be contacting your elected leaders, the only question you need to ask them is:
“Before you vote on this foreclosure bill, have you talked to judges in your district?”
This really is the only question you need to ask because any one that answers this question honestly will vote against this bill. The bill is a grab bag of pieces and parts, not supported by legitimate facts, and will do little to address the problems asserted.
Some of the testimony made about the legislation in the various committees thus far have been entirely inaccurate or grossly misleading. For instance, it is asserted that there is an impediment to clearing abandoned homes from the docket, and that this legislation will do something to address this alleged problem. That is flat out untrue. If a property were abandoned, whether the bank got service on all defendants or not, they could publish and get a judgment in a matter of 120 days or so using the existing laws. To suggest that there is somehow a CRISIS that needs to be addressed with new legislation if again, FLAT OUT UNTRUE.
I urge legislators to ignore all the special interest groups that are pushing this mess forward and SPEAK TO JUDGES. The judges are on the front lines of this PROBLEM AND THIS BILL IS NOT THE SOLUTION.
REJECT THE RICHTER AMENDMENT, ADOPT THE HAYS LEAST WORST AMENDMENT!
At an unusual late evening session, the Banking and Insurance Committee of the Florida Senate will take up consideration of two different versions of Florida’s foreclosure “reform”. Both versions represent bad policy, bad lawmaking and bad political process. But I have resigned myself to the sickening reality that something bad is coming. It’s kinda like when you’ve heard the hurricane warnings for two weeks then you finally feel the first rain bands coming, you know it’s going to be bad, you’ve just got to wait to see just how bad.
Both versions represent attempts wrongful policymaking at the expense of the integrity of our state’s legal system, but everyone seems quite content to trash our courts, our property records and our very notions of being a society governed by the Rule of Law. But the major debate that’s coming forward here is a tremendously huge public and legal policy decision that will have ramifications in this state for years to come. There are two amendments or versions of the bill that will be voted on. The big thing we have to keep in mind is that the Richter Amendment contains a broad and expansive “GET OUT JAIL FREE CARD” for the bansters and their minions that caused all this mess. The bottom line is the title industry and the banking industry know that they have been caught lying, cheating and committing crimes in our state’s courts and with our state’s property records. It is quite simply perhaps the largest systemic organized crime spree ever witnessed in a society…..ever. On Monday, Florida’s Senate Banking Committee will decide whether they applaud and reward a systemic crime spree by passing legislation that both recognizes and rewards the diabolical scheme. The provision in Senator Richter’s bill is quoted as follows:
Starting at Line 96
Section 4. Section 702.036, Florida Statutes, is created to read:
702.036 Finality of mortgage foreclosure judgment.—
(1)(a) In an action or proceeding in which a party seeks to set aside, invalidate, or challenge the validity of a final judgment of foreclosure of a mortgage or to establish or reestablish a lien or encumbrance on the property in abrogation of the final judgment of foreclosure of a mortgage, the court shall treat such request solely as a claim for monetary damages and may not grant relief that adversely affects the quality or character of the title to the property if:
1. A final judgment of foreclosure of a mortgage has been 108 entered as to a property
Here’s why this is so, so very bad. One of the few things that is forcing the Dark Side to exercise any little bit of restraint or responsibility or to show the court system and process any little bit of respect is the liability they could face after a foreclosure judgment if we finally catch them in lies, fraud, crimes and other gross abuses of the legal process. This Section in Richter’s bill would remove any such restraint or impediment and would leave them all totally free to engage in the most grossly abusive and blatantly reckless conduct they cared to because A HOMEOWNER COULD NEVER MAKE A CLAIM TO GET THEIR HOMES BACK!
Good judges could reject all the attempts by the banks to object to discovery, whistleblowers could come forward and testify about the fraud in document execution, the gross and blatant violations of notary laws, the felony violations of notary laws. Attorneys general from states all across this country could file real charges against all the criminals and their criminal corporations AND A HOMEOWNER COULD NEVER GET THEIR HOME BACK!
Like they did in the Pino Appeal Brief, the title industry propaganda wants to convince our legislators that they need this provision to push all these cases through. If they pass this, it will be just a black and white sign that this state has formally ushered in a disturbing wave of White Collar Criminal Lawlessness. If Richter’s bill passes, Florida’s Senators will be directly complicit in the largest organized crime spree in the history of the state. Knowing full well what these issues are, if they sign off on this version of the bill, they are making a bold and profound statement that they do not respect private property rights, but they approve and support all the myriad crimes committed by the document mills and the dark side.
It should also be noted that if there is to be any sense of justice or any sense of parity in this bill at all, homeowners who bother to defend their case should be exempted from the new Show Cause Proceedings. This can be accomplished with ONE simple word change as follows from Hays’ bill, similar in Richter’s bill:
Starting at Line 149:
3. State that the filing of defenses by a motion, responsive pleading, affidavits, or other papers or by a verified or sworn answer at or before the hearing to show cause may SHALL constitute constitutes cause for the court not to enter the attached final judgment.
Below are the two versions of the bills, Hays first then Richters.
CALL AND EMAIL THE SENATORS ON THIS COMMITTEE THE SUBJECT LINE IS:
NO ON RICHTER’S BILL TO REWARD FORECLOSURE CRIMINALS!
Please email the members below to voice your concerns.
This is a call out to everyone across the contry. Pleaser take a few minutes on this.
richter.garrett.web@flsenate.
alexander.jd.web@flsenate.gov,
bennett.mike.web@flsenate.gov,
gaetz.don.web@flsenate.gov, hays.alan.web@flsenate.gov,
margolis.gwen.web@flsenate.gov
oelrich.steve.web@flsenate.gov
Chair:
Senator Garrett Richter (R)
Vice Chair:
Senator Christopher L. “Chris” Smith (D)
Senator JD Alexander (R)
Senator Michael S. “Mike” Bennett (R)
Senator Mike Fasano (R)
Senator Don Gaetz (R)
Senator Alan Hays (R)
Senator Gwen Margolis (D)
Senator Joe Negron (R)
Senator Steve Oelrich (R)
Senator Eleanor Sobel (D)
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