Florida Petition Seeks Mediation of Foreclosures

As reported in the Florida Bar News dated March 1, 2009, The Supreme Court of Florida has received a petition to require foreclosure mediation. The article by Mark D Killian, managing editor states “Contending that prejudgment mediation could save more than 130,000 Florida homes from foreclosure  and assist more than 360,000 borrowers,” the plan is almost a verbatim acceptance of the plan submitted by Neil Garfield almost one year ago. The plan would apply to owner-occupied primary residential dwellings.

“The February petition urging the Court to invoke its emergency rule-making authority says one of ‘the most frustrating realities for many homeowners facing foreclosure is the inability to speak to a responsible decision-maker for the lender…” The proposed emergency rule, if accepted, would require the presence of the real lender by an authorized decision-maker at the time of the mediation. No telephone appearances would be accepted. The real lender and its authority to appear must be presented to the mediator prior to mediation.

However, the rule would stop short of imposing specific sanctions if the real lender does not show up or if the person appearing is no a responsible decision-maker. As stated elsewhere repeatedly on this blog it seems unlikely that the real lender will ever show up since that would mean all of the investors owning certificates of mortgage-backed securities, who at this point have been partially or completely paid by AIG-type insurance, federal bailout or who have trade their securities in private transactions. While one would be hopeful that the failure of the real lender to show up would result in dismissal of the foreclosure and the opening of the door for a quiet title action, it is also possible that Judge’s will exercise some discretion that doesn’t really exist. They could for example, accept the servicer as the real lender and as the authorized representative, leaving the borrower back in the same position as before the order directing the parties to mediation.

Tags: borrower, foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure offense, Lender Liability, mortgage meltdown, RESPA, securitization
Posted in Corruption, Eviction, Modification, securities fraud |