The main focus of my practice is now in foreclosure defense. I spend hours a day keeping up with developments throughout the state. The Florida Supreme Court has recently amended the Rules of Civil Procedure which now require that foreclosure complaints be verified. It has also recently ordered the chief judges of the judicial circuits to implement a mandatory mediation program. Hillsborough County has not implemented one yet.
In the Hartshorn case, I filed the initial brief arguing there is not time limit for seeking to set aside a summary judgment of foreclosure where the matter had been pursued by the wrong entity. If we win, then all the mortgage foreclosure actions completed by Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) in the last several years are subject to being set aside.
Recently I was successful in defeating two attempts to obtain summary judgments of foreclosure. In one Judge Williams found there were disputed factual issues as to whether the plaintiff received delivery of a promissory note endorsed in blank before the filing of the lawsuit and whether MERS had the authority to assign its interest in the mortgage. She scheduled the matter for final hearing the week of June 14.
In the second case, Judge Cobb sitting in for Judge Bray also found there disputed issues of fact as to whether the promissory note was delivered and the mortgage assigned to the plaintiff before the suit was filed.
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