Foreclosure Mediation Begins To Takes Hold On Staten Island

On Staten Island, New York, the Staten Island Advance reports:

• [A] new state law that went into effect late last year is changing how courts handle the foreclosure crisis by requiring judges to schedule mandatory settlement conferences between lenders and homeowners who received subprime and exotic mortgages -- the kinds of loans that triggered a national and global economic crisis. Legal Services of Staten Island provides counseling for homeowners who can't afford to bring an attorney to the foreclosure conference, and the Richmond County Bar Association has offered help.

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• "We are now dealing with this problem as soon as the [foreclosure] case is filed," said Justice Philip G. Minardo, administrative judge for Staten Island state Supreme Court, whose office has scheduled about 200 conferences since starting the process in January. "The court can't force a settlement but the court's presence can assist in bringing the parties together in an attempt to reduce the large number of foreclosures on subprime mortgages."

For more, see Court mediates in Staten Island foreclosures (Court fosters deals between banks and struggling homeowners).