Disbarment Possible For NY Attorneys Representing Foreclosing Lenders For Violation Of State High Court's New 'Anti-Robosigner' Rule

The New York Post reports:

• While the mortgage industry grapples with a legal morass over millions of flawed foreclosure actions, the chief of New York's courts made a bold move yesterday to ease the crisis -- at least in the Empire State. New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman issued a new rule [Wednesday] requiring every lawyer handling foreclosures to sign a document verifying that the paperwork in the case is accurate. Failure to meet the new standard could result in disbarment or other sanctions.

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• Realtors, banks, buyers and the courts are complaining loudly about foreclosure cases tainted by improper documentation and rubber-stamped without any review.

• Lippman said his rule will for the first time force lawyers to put their careers on the line in foreclosure cases with a binding document that replaces prior "good practices" pledges that had little bite. "We want to make sure that everyone is focusing like a laser on these particular types of proceedings," Lipmann said.

• Some 78,000 homeowners are already caught up in foreclosure cases around the state. To make a case go forward, the new rule requires lawyers to include the name of a bank employee who affirmed the case facts as correct and the date it was done.

For the story, see Hear ye, hear ye! Lawyers' feet held to fire in foreclosure cases.

See also, NY forces lawyers to verify foreclosures, nixes robosigning:

• New York’s presiding justices handed down the new state rules after banks disclosed that an unknown number of homeowners faced foreclosure although their lawyers failed to get proper notarization, relied on “robosigning,” and failed to prove “proper standing.”

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• “We cannot allow courts in New York to stand by idly and be party to what we now know is a deeply flawed process, especially when that process involves basic needs – such as a family home – during this period of economic crisis,” Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said in a statement.