Another Florida Court To Implement Mandatory Mediation In Home Foreclosure Actions

In Pensacola, Florida, the Pensacola News Journal reports:

• A judge's order signed [last] week could bring relief to local home owners and the local court system, both overwhelmed by mortgage foreclosures. [Florida's] First Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Kim Skievaski signed the order, effective April 1, that will send all new foreclosure lawsuits in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties into mandatory mediation. Mediation can give homeowners a chance to renegotiate the terms of their mortgages, continue to make payments and stay in their homes.

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• The order will affect mortgages of owner-occupied homes and those made through institutional, investment or commercial lenders. It does not extend to investment, vacation or commercial properties. [...] The financial institution that is suing the borrower must pay $750 for the cost of the mediation for each case.(1)

For more, see Judicial order diverts foreclosures (Judge detours local cases to mandatory mediation).

For the judge's order, see Administrative Order 2009-18: Case Management Order And Mandatory Referral Of Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Cases To Mediation.

(1) According to the story, mortgage lawsuits still will be filed with the Clerk of Court's office, but the new order requires the financial institution to file a mediation notice with the Collins Center for Public Policy, a nonprofit organization that will manage the program.