Judge Hands Down $1.8 Million Fine To Lawyer Who Headed Now-Defunct Foreclosure Mill For Illegally $queezing Thousands Of Financially Strapped Homeowners As Pre-Condition For Halting Legal Action On Their Homes; Money Purportedly Paid For Title Insurance Policies Were Either Never Issued Or Sold At Inflated Cost

In Denver, Colorado, The Denver Post reports:

• A Denver judge has fined one of the city’s prolific foreclosure attorneys $1.8 million for billing thousands of consumers facing the loss of their homes for title-insurance policies that did not exist.
  
  Robert Hopp Jr. and his now-defunct law firm billed customers fighting foreclosure for policies that were never issued and inflated the cost of the few that were, the Colorado Attorney General’s office argued in a seven-day trial in February.
  
  The 37-page judgement handed down last week by Denver District Judge Shelley Gilman is the latest in a number of cases the state filed in 2013 against lawyers that specialized in foreclosures and allegedly padded their bills for costs that were ultimately borne by consumers losing their homes, the banks foreclosing on them and taxpayers whose federal insurance agencies covered the costs.
  
  Homeowners facing foreclosure had no choice but to pay the costs in order to stop the foreclosure process, and there was no process in place to challenge any of the fees lawyers said they were owed.
  
  Several firms settled the cases against them, including one of the largest — Aronowitz & Mecklenburg — which closed its doors. The largest foreclosure law firm, The Castle Group, also closed, but remains entwined in a bitter court battle against the state and the fraud allegations made against the firm and its principal, Larry Castle.
  
  Hopp was accused in the civil lawsuit of over-billing consumers on more than 2,200 foreclosure cases The Hopp Law Firm and Robert J. Hopp & Associates handled between 2008 and 2014.
  
  Hopp, who currently works at the Denali Law Firm in Littleton, did not respond to efforts to reach him.
  
  “Lawyers abusing the foreclosure process to enrich their private bank accounts is a practice that undermines citizen’s faith in the legal profession,” Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said in a statement. “The substantial penalties imposed by the court are just, and should serve as a strong deterrent to anyone else who wants to prey on homeowners struggling to keep a roof over their family’s heads.”
  
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  The Hopp verdict brings to seven the number of law firms that have either settled or were fined a total of $18 million as a result of the state’s legal actions.

For the story, see Judge fines foreclosure law firm $1.8 million for bogus billings (Hopp Law Firm found to have over-charged consumers for title policies).