Founder Of Now-Defunct Central Florida Foreclosure Mill To Surrender Bar Ticket, Agrees To Repay Client Reimbursement Fund For Any Client Claims; Firm Collapsed After 'Drowning' In Paperwork, Leaving Hundreds Unemployed, 60,000 Cases In Limbo

In Central Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reports:

• The founder of Orlando-based Butler & Hosch law firm, Robert Hosch Jr., will surrender his Florida law license.
  
  Hosch's proposed agreement with the Florida Bar comes almost a year after his firm collapsed over night, leaving hundreds of people suddenly unemployed and 60,000 foreclosure cases in limbo.
  
  The firm was one of the biggest foreclosure law firms in the nation when it closed suddenly on May 14, 2015. It represented banks and lenders who were foreclosing on people's homes.
  
  Hosch, 54, also had a large office in Texas and lived there. He has filed a petition with the Florida Supreme Court to surrender his license in a revocation agreement.
  
  The revocation would resolve any possible complaints against him by the Bar, which were only just being written up at a staff level, according to Florida Bar spokeswoman. Hosch also agreed to reimburse The Florida Bar for its costs in his disciplinary case.
  
  According to his petition, Hosch has also agreed to pay the Florida Bar for claims made regarding stalled foreclosure cases. Such claims can be filed with the Client's Security Fund of the Florida Bar. That fund is was created to help compensate people "who have suffered a loss of money or property due to misappropriation or embezzlement by an attorney."(1)
  
  But a spokeswoman for Hosch said in an email that Hosch and his attorneys don't believe any such claims were ever made, so no payment would be required there.
  
  In his petition, Hosch's attorney acknowledged that Butler & Hosch failed to properly inform the Bar that the firm's attorney's had withdrawn from the cases.
  
  The firm failed to "promptly file motions to withdraw in those cases or notify the courts. Instead, Petitioner, on the advice of counsel, signed an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, in which a non-lawyer was the assignee. Petitioner believed the assignment was in the best interest of all affected parties, including clients and creditors and believed the assignee was a lawyer."
  
  Clerks in several counties in Florida noted that the Butler & Hosch closure had caused delays, and fees, in cases.
  
  Collier County Clerk Dwight Brock had said in 2015 that, "This is a big deal because it’s going to end up clogging up the court even more."
  
  Brock said home foreclosure sales were halted in his office because Butler & Hosch attorneys stopped responding to phone calls or email about the cases. He noted that Florida courts had worked overtime to clear up backlogs of foreclosures since the Great Recession, with extra funding coming from the state Legislature.
  
  In Collier County, Butler was responsible for paying fees associated with advertising the sale and holding a foreclosure auction. For example, the sale fee alone is $70. With no one to pay the fee, sales were canceled.
  
  The firm had about 700 employees at one time, in major offices in Orlando, Tampa and Miami. Hosch's agreement to surrender his law license doesn't have any bearing on a proposed federal class action lawsuit filed on behalf of former employees, against him and the firm, in Fort Lauderdale. That case seeks damages because the firm allegedly violated the state's WARN Act, which requires advance notice of layoffs. It is currently in a mediation period.
  
  Business for foreclosure law firms had boomed during the Great Recession, but many firms struggled to adapt to new business when foreclosures slowed down. Butler & Hosch had attempted to acquire several other firms over the past year. In a memo to employees, Hosch had blamed the attempted expansion for Butler’s sudden end -- and a breakdown in talks with lenders, along with "short-term cash crunches."

Source: Butler & Hosch law firm founder to surrender law license.

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(1) For similar "attorney ripoff reimbursement funds" that sometimes help cover the financial mess created by the dishonest conduct of lawyers licensed in other states and Canada, see:

• Directory Of Lawyers' Funds For Client Protection (now includes Canadian recovery funds, courtesy of the American Bar Association);
• Check the USA Client Protection Funds Map;
• Check the Canada Client Protection Funds Map.

Maps available courtesy of The National Client Protection Organization, Inc.