Baltimore Judge Questions Foreclosure Mill Over Robosigned Paperwork As Voided Maryland Foreclosure Sales Over False Affidavits Begin To Hit Fan

In Baltimore, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reports:

• A Baltimore judge summoned attorneys from a large foreclosure law firm Monday to explain whether signatures on key documents were genuine, part of the fallout from revelations last year that foreclosures nationwide were being processed based on deficient — or fraudulent — paperwork.
• Virginia-based Shapiro & Burson was the third law firm called this year before Baltimore Circuit Judge W. Michel Pierson. He has heard admissions from several attorneys — at Shapiro & Burson and elsewhere — that their signatures on affidavits required to foreclose on homeowners were sometimes made by other people.

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• Some cases have been dismissed, voluntarily or by order of a judge. Last week a Kent County judge threw out a case — after the home was auctioned and that sale was ratified — because an affidavit misrepresented the nature of the borrower's debt, though the amount itself was likely correct. The mortgage servicer can file a new foreclosure case but will have to start from square one.
• Attorney Mike Morin, who represented the Kent County homeowner pro bono, said it's the first such Maryland foreclosure he knows of that was dismissed after a ratified sale because of a "false or fraudulent affidavit." "It may seem like a minor victory, but to say I was tickled is an understatement," he said Monday.
• Attorney Phillip Robinson of Civil Justice, a Baltimore nonprofit that has challenged mortgage servicers to get them to drop foreclosure cases with improper documentation, fears the true ownership of homes that go to foreclosure auction on the basis of false affidavits could be called into question later.(1)

For more, see Foreclosure attorneys called in to answer to judge (In Baltimore and elsewhere, questions arise about which signatures are genuine and which aren't).

See also, The Daily Record: Attorneys, notaries on the hot seat over foreclosure filings (requires paid subscription) (if no subscription, GO HERE).

See also, Lawyers questioned in Baltimore City Circuit Court on foreclosure.

(1) It's only a matter of time before the 'quagmire' infection that's been reported hitting the Massachusetts and Michigan real estate resale markets begins hitting the newspapers in Maryland (and elsewhere), See Michigan To Join Massachusetts As Real Estate Resale Market Quagmire After Recent State Appeals Court 'Anti-MERS' Ruling?