Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Florida Bar To Consider Review Process For Ethics Breaches By Attorneys Bringing Foreclosure Actions Filed w/ Errors, False Statements

The Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:
  • The state group that disciplines lawyers is debating how to deal with reports of attorneys using errors and false statements to retake property in foreclosure cases.(1) [...] A section of The Florida Bar that seeks to give everyone equal access to the courts says stories like those prompted it to push for a special committee to review any ethical violations in foreclosure cases.

  • The Equal Opportunity Law section will present its case Friday at the Board of Governor's meeting that letting the behavior go will hurt the image of attorneys. And the resolution will be reviewed and a committee that looks at attorney discipline.

For more, see Foreclosure lawyers scrutinized for ethical violations.

(1) Reportedly, a study this summer that looked at the Sarasota County civil courts system found three of four foreclosure cases that went forward without the proper paperwork. And one Sarasota judge, after the attorney for a foreclosing lender assured her everything was in order, happened to glance at foreclosure paperwork and realized the two properties were in Miami, a few hundred miles outside her jurisdiction, according to the story.