Firm asks Court to thow out Bank of America suit after bank contacts firm client

Shuster & Saben Moves for Dismissal and Sanctions after BAC Home Loans (also known as Bank of America) makes direct contact with client:

One of the things almost every lawyer holds sacred is that if a person is represented by an attorney and the lawyer for the other side or the other side itself wants to talk to the represented person about the legal matter the lawyer or party must speak to the represented party’s attorney and not directly to represented party. In car accident cases when an insurance adjuster hears that an accident victim has retained counsel the conversation usually stops in mid sentence because a Florida insurance adjuster can be disciplined or even lose their license for speaking to a person who the adjuster knows is represented by counsel.

Perhaps BAC Home Loans thought it was above the law when it contacted a client of this firm after the Brevard County client retained Shuster & Saben Foreclosure Attorneys to defend the foreclosure action filed against their Space Coast home.

When our firm was retained we filed a notice of appearance and served a copy on Kass, Shuler, Solomon, Spector, Foyle and Singer, the law firm representing BAC Home Loans. The notice of appearance set forth that this firm objected to any exparte communication with our client and instructed BAC to “cease and desist all communications with this firm’s client.” Since some lawyers do not bother to carefully read notices of appearances we also wrote a letter Bank of America’s lawyer, Edward Pritchard telling him to “instruct the servicer to cease all communication with the Defendant.”

To see our notice of appearance click here.

To see our letter to Bank of America’s lawyer click here.

To make absolutely certain that our client would not be bothered by the lender we even sent a copy of the letter we sent to Bank of America’s lawyer directly to the loan servicer.

To our surprise six months later our client called us to advise that he received a settlement offer (loan modification offer) directly from Bank of America. The offer included a tiny reduction of the monthly loan payment but required our client to waive valuable legal rights and defenses he had to the foreclosure action. In our opinion putting such waivers into a loan modification is a violation of HAMP loan servicing guidelines.

Our firm has filed a motion with the Court requesting that the Court dismiss BAC Home Loans lawsuit with prejudice as a punishment for Bank of America’s underhanded and unethical action. A hearing will be held on this motion in late May.

To See a Copy of our motion click here.

Shuster & Saben Wins Emergency Motion to Stay Foreclosure Sale

For Immediate Release:
Shuster & Saben wins Emergency Motion to Stay Foreclosure, and obtains Court order cancelling judical sale.

September 17, 2009, could have been a very bad day for Shuster & Saben client M.L.* When M.L came to our firm on August 11, 2009, she had already lost her case because a default was entered against her after she failed to file an answer to a complaint for foreclosure filed by MidFirst Bank. Our client had received numerous calls from the loan servicer who had told her that she did not need to attend a Court hearing because she had been approved for loan modification. Relying of what she was told by the servicer M.L. did not answer the compliant or attend a motion for summary judgment. M.L. realized she had a serious problem that required immediate legal action when she received an Court order scheduling her home to be judicially auctioned on September 17, 2009.

After Shuster & Saben was hired on August 11, 2009, the firm filed a Verified Emergency Motion to Stay Foreclosure Sale and Request for Mediation. In support of the motion M.L.’s affidavit was filed that set forth that she was employed and was attempting in good faith to reach a loan modification with MidFirst bank. The affidavit also set forth that M.L. did not file an Answer based upon representations of the servicer that the foreclosure could be worked out by loan modification.

On September 15, 2009, just two days before the scheduled sale the Court held a hearing on the Emergency Motion to Stay Foreclosure. Thomas Willis, from the law firm of Shuster & Saben presented the firm’s argument on behalf of the homeowner and George Zamora of the law firm Kass, Shuler, Solomon, Spector, Foyle & Singer, P.A. presented the bank's argument. Circuit Court Judge Marc Schumacher granted the Emergency Motion and entered an order cancelling the foreclosure sale and deferring the parties to mediation.

To Review the Court's Order Click Here

* M.L. is a real client. To protect her identify and privacy one of her initials has been changed our client's name has been redacted from the linked order.

Shuster & Saben, LLC, Foreclosure Defense
Miami: (305) 576-8688
Fort Lauderdale: (954) 423-0052
Palm Beach (877) 511-STAY
Stuart: (877) 511-STAY
Melbourne: (321) 549-STAY
www.attorneyforeclosuredefense.com

To See Thomas Willis' Spanish Foreclose Blog Click Here