Judge Bailey Lays Down The Gavel

May 25th, 2010 by Jason A. Kapit, Esq.
Categories: Headlines, Home Owners, Hot Topics, Short Sales / Foreclosure / REO

Sending A Message

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Bailey sent a message to every lender who presupposes that simply being owed money by a borrower is enough to circumvent laws, orders or anything else that under any other circumstances would simply not be tolerated in a court of law.

Eslava vs. HSBC

The substance of the case was this: A borrower was looking to his lender for a loan modification to make payments more affordable. Essentially unable to come to terms, the lender’s motion to foreclose was granted … but, HSBC (the lender) lost the note. Because of this, the court mandated that the lender post a bond to avoid any issues from another lender filing a claim against the borrower.

Trouble In Paradise

Long story short … HSBC never posted the bond and proceeded to foreclose, violating a specific court order. Eslava’a attorney Shaleen Khan, sought to overturn the sale based on HSBC’s violation. Outcome – let’s just say that Judge Bailey threw the book at William Huffman, who represented HSBC through Florida Default Law Group.

Ruling and What It Means Going Forward

Almost holding Huffman in contempt, not only did Judge Bailey overturn the foreclosure, she wiped out Enslava’s entire $207,000 mortgage! Bailey blasted Huffman saying in her order that she expects performance, not apologies and complained about the general “chaos and disorganization” of lenders and their lawyers.

Could Be A Landmark and Precedent Setting Ruling

What a shocker. And I thought I was the only one who thought lenders and those in the mitigation loss departments were clueless. Thank you Judge Bailey for finally sending a message. “Do your job or there will be hell to pay!

Tags: florida default, foreclosure, lawsuit, loan mod, loan modification, short sale

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 9:02 am and is filed under Headlines, Home Owners, Hot Topics, Short Sales / Foreclosure / REO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Real Estate On Tap