Foreclosure Fraud Complaints Targeting Attorneys Flood Florida Bar

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• Complaints about foreclosure fraud are pouring into The Florida Bar, with four times more cases pending today than six months ago, as property owners trying to save their homes increasingly take on their banks and their lenders' lawyers.
• The Bar, which regulates lawyer conduct in Florida and most states, has opened 202 foreclosure fraud grievance investigations since November, with 226 now pending. Such complaints target lenders' attorneys, some of whose practices process thousands of foreclosures a month.
• These practices, nicknamed "foreclosure mills," have faced accusations by homeowners and state regulators of allegedly submitting false or misleading paperwork, and having employees "robo-sign" piles of documents without verifying them.

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• Yet among the 46 foreclosure fraud cases closed so far, none have resulted in any sanctions against attorneys — including David J. Stern, whose Plantation operation once employed more than 1,000 people. Stern, who is the target of a civil investigation by the Florida attorney general, also has a Bar complaint against him that was opened last year.

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• Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, said the lack of Bar disciplinary action — such as disbarments and suspensions regarding foreclosure fraud — will "lend credence to those who say the Bar is incapable and someone else should regulate lawyers."

For more, see Foreclosure fraud complaints flood Florida Bar but no lawyer reprimands so far.