Florida Appeals Court Rules Banks Can’t Foreclose Without Proper Documents
I can’t locate video related to this Florida case, but this recent Dylan Ratigan segment touches on many of the same issues. So this Florida appeals court ruling says the foreclosing party must have an affidavit that is sworn to by whoever entered the information into their computer system. It will probably be modified on appeal, since it’s a pretty broad ruling — but it makes it a lot harder to foreclose, and it calls previous foreclosures into question. Personally, I wouldn’t buy a foreclosed house anywhere until you can document who actually holds the title, thanks to the bankers who ignored the property transfer systems already in place so they could bundle them to sell securities: In a decision that could have staggering implications on foreclosure proceedings statewide, an appeals court ruled Wednesday in favor of the owners of a Wellington home whose bank filed documents sworn to by employees with no personal knowledge of the case. The ruling from the 4th District Court of Appeal reversed in part a 2010 Palm Beach County Circuit Court summary judgment that said homeowners Gary and Anita Glarum owed LaSalle Bank $422,677. That amount was based on an affidavit of indebtedness signed by loan servicer employee Ralph Orsini, who pulled the information from a company computer – a move that appeals court judges said amounts to hearsay. “Orsini did not know who, how, or when the data entries were made into Home Loan Services’ computer system,” the decision states. “Orsini could state that the data was accurate only insofar as it replicated the numbers derived from the company’s computer system.” The ruling means the home on Amesbury Court, which has been in foreclosure since September 2008, can’t go to a foreclosure sale until the bank either gets another summary judgment or goes to trial. The Glarums still live in the home. Tom Ice, whose firm Ice Legal represents the homeowner, said Wednesday’s decision hits at the essence of the nation’s foreclosure robo-signing scandal in which tens of thousands of foreclosure court documents were signed by people swearing that they had personal knowledge of cases when they did not. While some lenders called the document problem a technicality, foreclosure defense attorneys called it perjury and fraud.
Florida Appeals Court Rules Banks Can’t Foreclose Without Proper Documents
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on September 9, 2011. Filed under