Tough Love: Stop Attacking Judges as Stupid or Corrupt.

Jun 21, 2019

Without naming names, I recently responded to an email insisting that I take judges to task for “bad rulings.”

I’ve been a trial lawyer for more than 42 years, tried over 2,000 cases and I have reviewed the results of more than 10,000 foreclosure cases. While “bad rulings” are common they are neither produced by incompetence or corruption. Most bias is allowed on the correct premise that everyone has bias. Attacking a judge merely sends warning signals up that produce a response — protect the judges.

All homeowners who have won have done so by persuasion of the judge — not by a judge becoming a pig digging for truffles. Homeowners and many lawyers misapprehend the role of judges and then criticise judges for failing to act in a manner consistent with what the homeowner or lawyer thinks will best produce a favorable result for the homeowner.

Here is what I wrote in response to that email I received insisting on the issue of corruption of judges.

You are entitled to your own opinion but not entitled to your own facts. Judges sit on the bench because they are there to call balls and strikes. If somebody fails to throw or hit a ball (most often the case in foreclosure defense) the Judge has no choice but to rule for the banks even if the Judge thinks something is fishy.

You are looking at the result and saying it is wrong. And you are correct. But law is about procedure and by definition procedure is right regardless of a bad result. This fact is completely ignored by lay people because it makes no sense to them. AND it is often ignored by lawyers who know better.

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Focusing on bad judges, while there are many, will get you nowhere unless you are piling up “Likes” on Facebook. Focusing on what balls should be thrown or should be hit by foreclosure defenders is where I have achieved success — and everyone else who has done the same thing will attest to the same thing.

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Plain Fact: Banks win because they have an effective legal team and an effective legal strategy. Homeowners lose because they enter the courtroom without any idea of what it means to have a good legal team and no idea about an effective legal strategy.