Court Discovers 15,000 unserved foreclosures

On the cover of today’s Daily Business Review is an article which reports that Miami-Dade chief administrative judge, Jennifer D. Bailey has discovered that there are 15,000 foreclosure cases filed in 2009 in which the lender has not served the defendant homeowner. Service of Process is the act of having a process server or sheriff physically hand deliver a copy of the lawsuit to the Defendant (in foreclosure cases the primary defendant is the homeowner). A plaintiff (in foreclosure cases the lender) has 120 days to serve the Defendant. If the Plaintiff serves the Defendant after 120 days without getting an extension of time, in advance, from the Court, the service of process is invalid and the case is subject to dismissal.

We recommend that if a homeowner is served with a foreclosure complaint the homeowner check the Court docket to determine when the case was filed and check to see if service was completed within 120 days.

Shuster and Saben is a five attorney litigation law firm that defends homeowners in foreclose and seek monetary damages for victims of predatory lending and other mortgage law violations. We are available for free consultation at our offices in Miami and Plantation and have freelance paralegals to meet with homeowners in Lee, Collier, and Brevard county. Homeowners with questions can reach our foreclosure defense department at foreclosuredefenselaw@gmail.com