Real Estate & Property Law

Bank of America Extends Foreclosure Moratorium to All 50 States

Updated: Bank of America is stopping foreclosures in all 50 states, making it the first bank to call a nationwide halt to foreclosures amid questions about flawed documents. The halt expands the bank’s previous moratorium on foreclosures in 23 states where courts have to participate in foreclosure proceedings, according the…

Oct 8, 2010 4:10 PM CDT

Calif. AG Sues 2 Companies, 3 Attorneys & Others for $60M, Says Homeowners Duped Into Suing Banks

Updated: Saying that consumers got little or nothing for hefty upfront fees and put their homes at greater risk of foreclosure by listening to purported home-rescue schemes marketed by two California-based companies that promoted dubious litigation, the state attorney general has a filed a $60 million lawsuit. It names as…

Oct 7, 2010 7:41 PM CDT

Fla. Law Firm Touts ‘Mortgage Terminator’ Suits for Condo Associations

A Miami law firm says its “mortgage terminator” lawsuits are transferring ownership of abandoned properties to condominium associations when banks delay initiating foreclosure proceedings. The suits filed by the Association Law Group rely on a Florida law that allows condo and homeowner associations to file separate foreclosure actions for unpaid…

Oct 6, 2010 2:33 PM CDT

Israeli Attorney Is 1st Foreign Law School Grad to Become Wis. Lawyer, Under New Rule

An Israeli attorney who earned her law degree from Bar Ilan University Law School in her home country is the first graduate of a foreign law school to win admission to the Wisconsin bar under a new rule that no longer requires graduation from an American Bar Association-accredited institution. Deborah…

Oct 6, 2010 12:00 AM CDT

House Speaker Pelosi Calls for Federal Probe of How Banks Handle Mortgage Foreclosures

A group of Democratic lawmakers from California headed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling for a federal investigation of irregularities in mortgage foreclosure cases, in the wake of increasing reports of “robo-signatures” and other questionable practices by a number of major mortgage servicers. Additionally, prior to filing suit, banks…

Oct 5, 2010 10:08 PM CDT

Newspaper: ‘Weak-Kneed’ Discipline Council Stumbled in Probate Judge Matter

In a 2004 will, Josephine Smoron left almost all her considerable assets, which included a dairy farm, to her longtime caretaker. A subsequent estate document in 2006 explained that she had expressly disinherited several churches. But as she lay dying in 2009 her court-appointed conservator transferred her assets to two…

Oct 4, 2010 6:58 PM CDT

Law Firm in ‘Deliberate, Willful & Flagrant’ Contempt Fined $49K for Missing Foreclosure Hearings

A judge has found a Florida law firm in “deliberate, willful and flagrant” contempt and fined it $49,000 for setting—and then missing—two foreclosure hearings. The action against Smith Hiatt & Diaz by Manatee County Circuit Judge Janette Dunnigan followed three previous incidents in which the law firm either canceled a…

Oct 4, 2010 4:51 PM CDT

Ohio Official Asks Federal Prosecutor to Review Chase Mortgage Foreclosures

Upping the ante in a mortgage foreclosure mess that already reportedly has prompted the attorney general’s office in six or more states to initiate probes of various lenders, an Ohio official has asked a federal prosecutor to take a look at Chase Home Mortgage and a company that was created…

Oct 1, 2010 3:33 PM CDT

Petition Asks Wisconsin High Court to Adopt Civil Gideon Rule

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is being asked to adopt a rule that would provide free lawyers to some civil litigants. The proposed rule would require free representation to protect poor litigants’ rights to “basic human needs,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Cases where the rule would apply involve food, shelter,…

Oct 1, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Shapiro & Fishman Squares Off with Fla. AG, Calls Law Firm Foreclosure Probe an Abuse of Gov’t Power

One of three so-called “foreclosure mill” law firms under investigation by the Florida attorney general has returned fire, calling his probe an abuse of government power. Attorney Gerald Richman of Richman Greer, who is defending the law firm that is the subject of the probe, Shapiro & Fishman, says in…

Sep 30, 2010 6:46 PM CDT

Woman, 68, Shot Boy, 12, in Her Yard, Is Hailed as a Hero; He and Pal, 13, Are Criminally Charged

For over a year, an elderly Chicago woman says, she was harassed at her South Side home by two boys, now 12 and 13. When the retiree returned home from grocery shopping Tuesday, she found two broken windows, saw the pair running away and called police. Then, as she was…

Sep 30, 2010 5:25 PM CDT

‘Foreclosure Mill’ Law Firms Under Pressure from Lawmakers

As JPMorgan Chase and Ally Financial’s GMAC Mortgage have acknowledged possible document irregularities concerning thousands of mortgage foreclosure cases and imposed temporary freezes on the litigation, some federal lawmakers have been trying to put the brakes on law firms that reportedly are responsible for filing many cases that may be…

Sep 30, 2010 12:00 AM CDT

JPMorgan Chase Freezes Foreclosures in 56,000 Cases; Will More Banks Follow Suit?

Updated: After an article from Bloomberg over the weekend detailing document issues that could put thousands of mortgage foreclosure cases in doubt, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has slammed on the brakes. The lender announced today that it has asked courts not to issue final judgments in 56,000 cases while it…

Sep 29, 2010 9:35 PM CDT

Lawyer Charged in Fake Sex Page Case re Neighbor, But Says He Didn’t Impersonate Her

A prominent California personal injury lawyer has been criminally charged for allegedly impersonating a female neighbor on the Internet and setting up pages encouraging strangers seeking sexual encounters to contact her. But attorney Franklin Casco Jr., 49, has been wrongly accused by Irvine police, his counsel, John Barnett, tells the…

Sep 29, 2010 6:41 PM CDT

Ex-Legislator’s Indictment re Law Firm ‘Retainer’ Fees Spurs Call for Ethics Reform

Critics are calling for ethics reform, following news of a claimed bribery scheme. It was allegedly conducted under the guise of legal fees paid by one New Jersey law partner to a counterpart at another law firm who also happened to be a lawmaker and chair of the state Senate…

Sep 29, 2010 5:45 PM CDT