Valley Forge Mailboxes Blog, Valley Forge PA

In the News Florida courts dismissing many foreclosure cases

In the state of Florida if you sue someone but then stop pursuing your case for over a year, the court has the right to dismiss the lawsuit “failure to prosecute.  In one division of Florida’s 20 judicial districts there may be at least 2700 hundred cases ready for dismissal.

In Duval Country part of the 4th judicial circuit near Jacksonville Florida it is stated that if lenders do not take action within 60 days of the notice then the cases could be dismissed.

After some of the notices were sent not all cases were dismissed, however, some banks actually voluntarily dismissed the cases on their own.  However, some banks did take action and for those homeowners face foreclosure may have gotten the final ticket to leave camp and move on.  According to some attorney’s though the likely hood of the court judge dismissing a case, especially if the lender’s attorney is present and even if they haven’t filed paperwork within the 60 day window, the judge would most likely let them continue the due process of the foreclosure.

With new rules being setup by government officials for mortgage servicers and with the amount of paperwork courts are behind on, the likelihood of many homeowners getting their foreclosure postponed is extremely high.  I’ve talked to several people who have not made a mortgage payment in over 2 years and are still in their home.  This just shows you how the system is being abused, but also the overwhelming about of paperwork the lenders and courts are dealing with.

]]>

So what really is the underlying reason why Florida is so far behind on foreclosure cases?  Some banks after the fall out of the “robo signing” foreclosure moratoriums where put in place, another reason is the David J Stern law firm issue of fraudulent documents and redistributing all those firms files. Not to mention the state investigation of mortgage servicers and lender’s own fraudulent document issues.  All things complied together really puts a huge snag in the way of processing foreclosures in a timely manner.  Regardless of the reasons Florida is still up to their eye balls in paperwork.  Not only is it a waste of tax payer money and the courts time to file lawsuits and then not prosecute is not only counterproductive but a huge waste of judicial resources.    Dismissing cases is only slightly worst because there is still time involved in mailing out notices to all parties involved.  As of December of last year Florida courts alone had a back log of over 350,000 cases down from July 2010 of 462,000.  It’s no wonder why some people are not nervous at all about being booted out of their homes any time soon.  One of the main reasons of the reduction in cases is largely a part of the courts dismissing some foreclosures due to lack of lender involvement.

Obviously something needs to be done to help the courts get caught up but also to have better involvement from the lenders to move forward with foreclosures or don’t bother filing.  April Charney a legal aid from Jacksonville has suggested charging the lenders for filing and not prosecuting, it would certainly help the courts with some of the absorption of time and money they have spent keeping track of all the paperwork.