Fort Lauderdale-Area Court System Not Immune To 'Kangaroo-Itis' In Foreclosure Actions As Local Chief Judge Takes "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" Posture

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, WFOR-TV Channel 4 ran a story that made the following reference to the goings-on at the local county courthouse in connection with foreclosure actions that, to some, may appear to be a rubber-stamping kangaroo court system, and where the local chief judge is seemingly taking his cues from Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru, better known as the proverbial "Three Wise Monkeys":

• If there's any question about how bad the mortgage foreclosure crisis is, all you need to do is sit in on special courts like the one in Broward County. They do nothing but handle mortgage foreclosure cases using retired judges paid by the state of Florida. The special foreclosure courts were set up by the state in July with $9.6 million in seed money to try to reduce the backlog of some 67,000 foreclosure cases statewide.

• In Broward County, the I-Team found the line of lawyers handling these cases stretching out the door and some cases before a judge lasting mere minutes to close. "We're under a mandate from the legislature to track the cases," said the Honorable Victor Tobin. Judge Tobin heads Broward County's special foreclosure court and oversees its operations. "We're under the gun to move 62% of those cases (off the docket) in one year," said Judge Tobin.

• Though the retired judges preside over as many as 600 to 700 cases a week, Judge Tobin disagrees with those who charge that the cases are rushed through. "There is no pressure on that judge in the contested docket to move the cases in any particular fashion," said Judge Tobin. "You take your time, give everybody a hearing, be sure they're heard, listen to the arguments and (then) rule (in the case on the merits.)"

• But critics, such as [local foreclosure defense attorney Roy] Oppenheim, say that pressure to clear the calendar and move the cases has resulted in rushed judgments, sloppy judicial decisions and even cases of judges overlooking forged or unverified documents such as unverified bank notes and mortgages.

• "The banks effectively, in my opinion, hijacked the judicial system where the judicial system to a large extent became a private collection agency for the banking industry," said Oppenheim. Oppenheim calls these special foreclosure courts "rocket dockets" And he says homeowners get burned when judges more often than not side with banks at times without even seeing or reading evidence presented by the homeowner.

• "These (unverified) affidavits these judges have known have had problems for well over a year and allowed these to steam roll through," said Oppenheim. "And not fulfill, in my opinion, their constitutional oath of office as judges. In terms of protecting and upholding both the United States Constitution and the Florida Constitution in terms of protecting the Constitutional rights, the property rights of homeowners and citizens of this state."

• Judge Tobin disagrees."They (the judges) are under no edict to side with the bank as opposed to the homeowner," said Judge Tobin. Judge Tobin admits mistakes get made but he defends the system of specialized foreclosure courts. "You can't look at 50,000 cases…and not have a problem in individual cases," said Judge Tobin. "I haven't really seen it here in the 17th (Judicial Circuit.) I know they've had (problems or) issues have been raised in other jurisdictions. I know the (Florida) Attorney General is looking at the issue. We haven't really had it. But that doesn't mean that it's not there."

• In fact, the problem of fraudulent court documents is so bad Florida's Attorney General has now opened a criminal investigation.

Source: I-Team: Mortgage Help Not Helping.

In a related column, see Naked Capitalism: Florida’s Kangaroo Foreclosure Courts: Judges Denying Due Process on Behalf of Banks.