Monday, December 06, 2010

Pittsburgh Bankruptcy Chief Sanctions Lying Lawyer, Foreclosure Mill Firm For Filing Manufactured Docs; Orders Both To Report To Disciplinary Board

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports:
  • The chief bankruptcy judge for Western Pennsylvania sanctioned an attorney and her Philadelphia law firm for filing deceptive documents in a foreclosure proceeding and then lying about them in a case against a Monroeville woman.

  • The firm filed copies of three key letters created after the fact and never sent to the homeowner or her lawyer, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Agresti ruled. Under Agresti's order last week, attorney Leslie A. Puida and the firm Goldbeck, McCafferty and McKeever must report to the Disciplinary Board of the state Supreme Court, which could impose penalties.(1)

  • Puida could not be reached. The firm did not respond to a request for comment [last week]. A partner in the firm told the judge it initiated practices and procedures to avoid a recurrence.

For more, see Judge sanctions attorney, law firm in Monroeville case.

In related stories, see:

(1) Under Judge Agresti's order, the court declined to slam the firm with monetary sanctions (the Trustee suggested the firm cough up $50K), "[g]iven the magnitude of the financial loss which GMM has already experienced in the form of attorney fees and lost client revenue as a result of this matter" (around $400K in out-of-pocket expenses which will not be reimbursed by insurance coverage), saying that banging them for more cash "could jeopardize the continued operation of GMM, possibly threatening the livelihoods of innocent employees who had nothing to do with the violations addressed in the Rule."

Likewise, Judge Agresti declined to impose monetary fines on Puida or suspend her from practicing in the bankruptcy court in the state's Western District (the Trustee suggested one year), for reasons that can be described as practical (and possibly humanitarian) as set forth in his order.

Judge Agresti's ruling is the latest in the ongoing litigation involving Countrywide Home Loans, and alleged fabricated evidence, suspected forgeries, and requests for allegedly improper fees or payments from bankrupt homeowners filed in this and other cases he has overseen in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh. See:

(2) The following comment to the ABA Journal story was left by William A. Roper, Jr. which merits attention: