Saturday, March 26, 2011

Florida Foreclosure Mill Admits No Wrongdoing In Deal To Cough Up $2M To Cool Off The Heat From State AG Robosigner Probe

The Washington Post reports:
  • A Florida law firm agreed Friday to pay the state $2 million in penalties for allegedly mishandling foreclosures — the first deal of its kind since the uproar over the issue began last fall.

  • The Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson was among the prominent law firms investigated by state authorities after major lenders, including Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase, admitted last fall that their employees had “robo-signed” foreclosure cases without reading them and improperly notarized some documents.

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  • In the Marshall C. Watson case, homeowners complained about robo-signing and notary issues as well as whether documents had been forged, according to the Florida attorney general’s office. They added that their foreclosure notices were not served properly. In some cases, relatives with no stake in the process were served notices and the homeowners were billed to cover the cost of those actions. The settlement does not include any admission of guilt by the law firm.

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  • The settlement also requires the firm to prepare foreclosure paperwork beyond what is required by Florida law.

For more, see Florida law firm to pay $2 million to settle foreclosure fraud charges.