Real Estate & Property Law

The Dakota Claims Racial Bias Plaintiff Made ‘Highly Unrealistic’ Financial Claims

The co-op board of the Dakota apartment building in New York is firing back at a resident who says he wasn’t allowed to buy an additional unit there because of racial bias. In a response to the suit filed by Alphonse Fletcher Jr., the board claimed the statement of net…

Feb 16, 2011 4:40 PM CST

Affiliate of Once-Mighty Foreclosure Firm Lays Off 96 More Workers, May Close Within 60 Days

Once a massive back office for Florida’s busiest mortgage foreclosure law firm, DJSP Enterprises appears to be on its last legs. Another 96 layoffs there were announced today, bringing the total tally of workers laid off since last fall to approximately 1,000, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. At one point,…

Feb 15, 2011 8:43 PM CST

New York to Guarantee Lawyers to Homeowners in Foreclosure Cases

New York is on its way to being the first state to offer all homeowners facing foreclosure a court-appointed lawyer. There are about 80,000 foreclosure cases in the New York state court system, according to the New York Times. Court officials plan to draw appointed attorneys from legal aid groups…

Feb 15, 2011 8:32 PM CST

Jailed Ex-Spouse, Accused in Lawyer’s Kidnapping and Arson, Can Sue Fire Insurer, Appeals Court Says

Imprisoned and awaiting trial on charges that he kidnapped his attorney ex-wife at gunpoint, held her hostage in her Connecticut home in July 2009 and torched it after she fled, a former public relations executive can pursue an insurance coverage case over another home he allegedly set afire in 2007,…

Feb 15, 2011 7:16 PM CST

Layoffs of Hundreds Follow Foreclosure Firm’s Loss of Fannie Mae Files

After news that Fannie Mae had pulled its foreclosure cases from the Ben-Ezra & Katz law firm and a name partner had been held in contempt over documents irregularities in one case comes news of layoffs. The Hollywood, Fla., firm axed nearly half of its 568 employees today, reports the…

Feb 15, 2011 12:32 AM CST

Judge Axes Foreclosure, Bans Do-Over, Holds Lawyer in Contempt; Fannie Mae Pulls Files from Firm

Updated: Last week clearly was not a good one for Ben-Ezra & Katz. The south Florida law firm was terminated from the mortgage foreclosure cases in which Fannie Mae is involved. And on Friday a Miami-Dade Circuit Judge held the head of the firm in contempt over its handling of…

Feb 14, 2011 5:17 PM CST

Banned From Suing Lawyer, Ex-Client Is Told ‘The Fault ... Is Not In Our Stars, But In Ourselves’

Telling a former client who sued his ex-lawyer for discrimination and sent him invective-filled letters that he should heed famous words in Julius Caesar about the apportionment of blame, a New York judge has given the lawyer some relief, reports the New York Post. Alexander Breytman cannot sue attorney Donald…

Feb 10, 2011 9:40 PM CST

Plaintiffs Lawyers Say Bear Stearns May Have Double-Dipped on Defaulted Mortgages

Plaintiffs lawyers are hoping for what one calls a potential “home run” in litigation against Bear Stearns and, possibly, other banks that packaged mortgages into securitized bundles. In a federal lawsuit that has been dismissed and is now being readied for filing in state court, an insurer of some mortgage…

Feb 10, 2011 7:55 PM CST

US Judge Grants TRO to Block Enforcement of Potential Ecuador Verdict Against Chevron

In the latest twist in a hard-fought international environmental case that reportedly could win a megabillions verdict for the plaintiffs, a federal judge in New York has granted a temporary restraining order banning enforcement of any judgment that might be awarded in the future by a court in Ecuador. The…

Feb 9, 2011 8:20 PM CST

FDIC Sues Law Firm for $6M, Says Partner Closing Loans for Bank Concealed Critical Info

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has sued a Georgia law firm for malpractice, contending that a partner of the firm, simultaneously representing Neighborhood Community Bank and a developer client while closing loans, concealed from the bank material secret changes in the authorized terms of the loans. In a complaint (PDF)…

Feb 9, 2011 5:18 PM CST

ABA President Urges HUD to Drop Requests for Waivers of Attorney-Client Privilege

ABA President Stephen N. Zack has written a letter urging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its inspector general to bolster attorney-client and work-product protections for public housing agencies and other grantees. According to the letter (PDF), HUD guidance “urges” public housing agencies to include an addendum…

Feb 9, 2011 5:05 PM CST

Did Dakota Co-op Board Discriminate Against Antonio Banderas? Suit Airs Claims

A lawsuit filed against the co-op board of the famous Dakota apartment building claims racial discrimination against minority celebrities identified in the press as singer Roberta Flack and Antonio Banderas. The suit was filed by former board president Alphonse Fletcher Jr., a black Wall Street investor who wasn’t allowed to…

Feb 4, 2011 3:32 PM CST

Even Reverse Mortgages to Homeowners May End Up on Foreclosure Docket

As foreclosures have surged in Florida and nationwide in recent years, even reverse mortgages that do not require any monthly payment and instead funnel money to the homeowner could soon be added to the litigation list. That’s because the homeowners, who generally are elderly, still have to pay property tax,…

Feb 3, 2011 7:40 PM CST

Selling Foreclosure Firm’s Back Office Earned $60M for Attorney David Stern

A Florida attorney known as a foreclosure king earned $60 million last year by spinning off his law firm’s back office operations and selling them, as a separate company, to investors. But that investment hasn’t proved nearly as profitable as they hoped. David J. Stern’s law firm lost much of…

Feb 2, 2011 2:59 AM CST

Prominent NY Lawyer Is Pro Se in Trial Over Alleged Conversion of $853K Fire Insurance Check

After his Long Island, N.Y., home burned in 2008, attorney George Guldi received an $853,000 check from his insurance company. But it was made payable both to the former Suffolk County legislator and the lender that held a $1.4 million mortgage on his home, reports the East Hampton Star. Now,…

Jan 29, 2011 12:12 AM CST