GULFCOAST LEGAL SERVICES, INC. Current Trends in Civil Legal Aid

How Can the National Mortgage Settlement Agreement Help Me?

Announced on February 9, 2012, the $25 billion dollar National Mortgage Settlement Agreement is expected to benefit distressed homeowners in 49 states.

  

Last week President Obama announced the passing of the largest federal and state civil settlement in a decade. A $25 billion federal-state mortgage servicers settlement, between government officials, state attorneys general, and Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Ally Financial, was designed to help underwater and struggling homeowners who are upside down with their mortgage loans get back on their feet again and is projected to benefit nearly one million home owners.  That number could increase if other mortgage servicers jump on board to be included in this settlement.

Part of this settlement is a new set of banking guidelines that were written to prevent future abuses and bad practices that were, in part, responsible for spawning the economic crisis that has touched all of us.

Florida and California, the top two states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, are targeted for the largest state percentage of settlement funds, with Florida receiving a third of the total settlement.

A number of pre-defined groups of distressed home owners, who are targeted to benefit from this settlement, will have the opportunity to do so as outlined below:

• Home owners who have already had a foreclosure:   If your foreclosure falls between 2008 through 2011, you could qualify for a settlement payment of up to $2,000.   If you’re not sure, but think you may be eligible, you should contact your bank to get more information.  The number of people who participate in this settlement will affect the payment amount.  If you qualify, you should receive claim forms in the mail from an administrator from the Attorney General’s office.
• Home owners – behind on mortgage payments: You may qualify for a principle reduction to your mortgage(s).  You must owe more on your mortgage than your home is worth and be behind on your mortgage payment or at risk of imminent default because of impending circumstances, to be considered for a reduction to the principle amount owed on your mortgage.  The average payout for a principle reduction is estimated to be about $20,000 per household.
• Home owners – current, but struggling to make payments:  You could be eligible for a refinance of your mortgage(s) at today’s historically low interest rates.  Your mortgage amount must exceed your home’s value for this option also.

Execution of this agreement will take place over the next 3 years.  In the next 6-9 months, all administrative parties involved will work to identify homeowners eligible for the immediate cash payments, principal reductions and refinancing.  If you’re identified as an eligible participant, you will be notified by mail.

To learn more about the details of the National Mortgage Settlement visit: http://www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com/

If your mortgage is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you unfortunately will not qualify to participate in the National Mortgage Settlement program, but you should explore your options for relief through the governmental programs: HARP, HAFA, or HAMP.

One of the most beneficial and long lasting benefits of the mortgage servicers settlement agreement will be that new standards have been written for foreclosure procedures and will now be in place to prevent future abuses like ‘robo-signing.’  Formal enforcement systems, practices, and procedures will also assure that such widespread abuse by the banking industry will be a part of our history, and not follow us into the future. 

To contact your mortgage servicer:

Bank of America Inquiries

Wells Fargo Inquires

Citi Group Inquiries

J P Morgan Chase Inquiries

Ally Financial Inquiries

Help for Fannie & Freddie Mac loans

Loan lookup tools

HAFA

HAMP

HARP

ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER SPEAKS AT THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN SUPPORT OF LEGAL AID FUNDING

From Attorney General Holder's Speech in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 26, 2012

To the Leaders of the D.C. Bar and Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia:
"Each one of you is playing a key role in closing the “justice gap,” and advancing the work that continues to make such a profound difference in the lives of so many disadvantaged people across – and far beyond – our nation’s capital. Together with the diverse group of judges, attorneys, staff members, and supporters gathered here, you stand on the front lines of this struggle in neighborhoods and communities across the District. And – for the past 80 years – you and your predecessors have been fighting not only to restore the essential rights of those who cannot afford representation on their own, but also to ensure the strength and integrity of our nation’s justice system. As stewards of the law – and servants of all those it protects and empowers – I believe this work is, in many ways, our highest calling. But it’s more than just a professional obligation. As you’ve shown, we must regard it as nothing less than a moral imperative.

Especially in light of recent economic challenges – as funding for aid programs has become painfully limited, and budgets across government and the nonprofit sector have come under increasing strain – the urgency of the crisis facing our justice system has been brought into sharp focus. Studies have consistently shown that as much as 80% of civil legal needs go unmet.

For me – and, I’m sure, for many of you – this cause is deeply personal. Years ago, as a judge on the D.C. Superior Court – where many poor residents turn to resolve their legal problems – and as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, the shortage of adequate representation was a reality I came face-to-face with on a daily basis. And while important progress has been made since then, as recently as 2008, a study by the D.C. Access to Justice Commission showed that 77 percent of plaintiffs in family law matters that came before the Superior Court were pro se, along with 97 percent of defendants who appeared in Landlord/Tenant Court – and fully 98 percent of litigants in the Court’s Domestic Violence Unit.

Fortunately, Legal Aid has responded not with despair, but with resolve. Despite the scope of the challenges we face – and the obstacles that so many low-income individuals must overcome – you’ve been working tirelessly to reach as many D.C. residents as possible, and to help realize the promise of equal justice for disadvantaged and underserved populations throughout the District. You’ve proven your dedication to achieving meaningful change on a systemic scale. And – perhaps most importantly – you’re providing a model for success that others can replicate across the country.

Every day, Legal Aid attorneys are in the courtroom – standing up for survivors of domestic violence; helping families facing eviction, and veterans who have been denied their benefits; and making sure adults and children alike have an understanding of the rights and protections to which they are entitled. And, because of your consistent focus on pro bono work, you are helping to rally the entire bar to this cause. Last year alone, I understand Legal Aid received more than $8 million worth of pro bono assistance. Through programs like your “Barbara McDowell Appellate Advocacy Project” and the D.C. Access to Justice Commission’s “Raising the Bar” initiative, many of you are working to bring about sweeping, structural change. You’re improving lives. And you’re helping to restore the foundation of America’s justice system."

 

Director's Corner: John P. Cunningham of GULFCOAST LEGAL SERVICES Stetson University College of Law 2012 William Reece Smith, Jr. Public Service Award

Thank you, Dean Gardner and the Stetson College of Law, for this special honor. I would like to recognize my colleagues on staff and board members who are here tonight from Gulfcoast Legal Services, some of whom have worked with me for more than 25 years. They receive little recognition and all deserve an award. It is also good to see faculty members I have met in the past, and former colleague Professor Rebecca Morgan. I also met Judge Tommy Minkoff, who did a ton of pro bono cases for us before he became a judge. I would also like to recognize my wife of 42 years, Karen, who made it possible for me to attend law school and to follow my dreams and have a family. I would be remiss not to give a shout-out to our 16-year-old granddaughter, Tori, who keeps me informed about the latest trends in music and technology. She had the nerve to ask Mr. Smith for his autograph tonight, and he graciously gave it to her.

It is truly one of the highlights of my legal career to receive a recognition that bears the name of William Reece Smith, Jr., a Rhodes scholar who, over a 60-year career, has been a law professor, a successful lawyer renowned nationally and internationally as one of our best lawyers, who has been president of USF, president of the Florida Bar Foundation, and president of the American Bar Association. As president of the ABA, Reece Smith fought for the continued availability of Legal Services to the poor and through his leadership preserved the funding and existence of the Legal Services Corporation. Professor Michael Swygert, in his biography of Mr. Smith entitled A Consumate Lawyer, said that A he is a person of uncompromising integrity, competence and commitment to the legal profession and to the administration of justice.@ Thank you, Mr. Smith, for all you have done.

If I may, Dean Gardner, I would like to speak briefly to the Stetson students here tonight. I have been asked how I got into this field. I was drawn into Legal Services some 41 years ago when, as a second year law student, I enrolled in a civil clinic course at New York= s Legal Aid Society. I soon became aware of the hardships encountered by poor people in correcting simple errors or bureaucratic indifference and due process violations. I did unemployment, welfare and social security hearings. Similar problems with fairness exist today in many areas of administrative agency actions, despite the Goldberg v. Kelly decision. After the clinic I took a part-time job with Legal Aid, which led to employment after graduation. I worked in the main office in downtown Manhattan and in the Brooklyn office for the elderly, where one of the outreach sites was at the end of the boardwalk on Coney Island. I continued to learn daily about how badly people can be treated because of their poverty and about the need for access to attorneys. I left one of the oldest legal aid programs in the U.S. in 1981 to come to one of the newest, Gulfcoast Legal Services. While the practice of law in Florida has had some quirky aspects, the clients had problems that were the same. In 2004 our program took on responsibility for legal assistance to the large immigrant community in the region, where there is great need but little public sympathy or funding.

Today, with the foreclosure crisis and high unemployment and underemployment, too many persons cannot afford or obtain legal assistance. Estimates are that at least 80% of low income persons who need a lawyer have no access to one. Sadly, there is no full equal access to justice yet or on the horizon. Rights have been and will be lost, and as Reece Smith once said, A Remember that a right lost to one, is lost to all.@

So, to the students here tonight, I would urge you to consider that with the privilege to practice law comes the responsibility to bring your talent, training, ideas and ideals to make justice a reality for all segments of society. Whatever career path you choose in the legal profession, there will be opportunities for you to work with or support a legal aid or legal services organization, or to assist clients through a firm= s or your own pro bono projects. If you emulate Reece Smith, you will make a difference.

Thank you all very much.

 

Dear Judge Rakoff: Thank You for Defending the Public Interest

Dear Judge Rakoff: Thank You for Defending the Public Interest   By Abigail Caplovitz Field | November 29, 2011   Dear Judge Jed Rakoff: I confess I’ve been a fan of yours for awhile now; you got my attention with the way you stood up to the SEC on its BofA deal. But your latest salvo against SEC facilitation of repeated securities fraud and its cooperation in stymieing investor lawsuits against its erstwhile defendants is breathtaking. I mean, you really take a strong stand on defending the public interest, and that’s something tragically rare among our branches of government in recent years. What’s so striking is both the obviousness of your position and its rarity. I mean, of course you can’t evaluate if a settlement is reasonable, fair, adequate or in the public’s interest if you have no clue what the underlying facts are. As you put it: “Here, the S.E.C.’s long-standing policy—hallowed by history but not by reason—of allowing defendants to enter into Consent Judgments without admitting or denying the underlying allegations deprives the Court of even the most minimal assurance that the substantial injunctive relief it is being asked to impose has any basis in fact.” And as you point out, the lack of facts not only affects your ability to assess the settlement, by structuring the deal this way the SEC is asking you to be complicit in keeping the truth hidden, to be “…a mere handmaiden to a settlement privately negotiated on the basis of unknown facts, while the public is deprived of ever knowing the truth in a matter of obvious public importance. It’s hard to see the SEC’s recent series of settlements as anything other than an example of regulatory capture. As you colorfully noted, the SEC seems to get nothing but a “quick headline”, while Citigroup gets a “chump change” fine, and more important, the SEC’s cooperation in its defense against investor lawsuits. As you explain charging Citi with negligence and allowing it to settle without admitting anything is a “double blow” for defrauded investors hoping to recoup their losses. Since the fines that the SEC is collecting from Citi are much less than investors lost and aren’t even definitely going to be paid to investors, the SEC’s assistance with Citi’s defense against investors is particularly galling. Relatedly, thank you for pointing out another example of the SEC’s deference to Citi–to the company’s face, in the complaint against Citi, the SEC pleads negligence. But against the low level employee, the SEC uses language like Citi “knew”. The SEC can’t have it both ways; either Citi was negligently fraudulent or knowingly fraudulent. Which, based on its “broad ranging four year investigation”, does the SEC really think is true? Surely the revolving door between Wall Street and the SEC explains some of the regulatory capture. But another component has been the judiciary’s misplaced deference to the SEC in deals like these. Asking you to sign off on a deal because you ‘know’ the allegations are true though Citi won’t admit them, and in fact will loudly deny them in other litigation, is an inappropriate demand that you be complicit in assisting Citi’s defense against investor lawsuits. But that’s the demand the SEC has consistently made of judges for a long time, a demand, until your latest order, judges have acquiesced to. Just whom does the SEC think it represents? It’s really not clear, given the SEC’s belated, craven claim that the public interest–as interpreted by you–is irrelevant to assessing the merits of its deal. You did a very nice job of smacking it over that move, but the fact that the SEC would make such an assertion is pretty amazing. The SEC’s mission, according to its website, is to “protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.” How does a settlement that makes it harder for investors to recover losses due to securities fraud further the mission of protecting investors? Similarly, the SEC has long recognized that accurate information available to all is the only way to have healthy markets; that’s the principle behind securities fraud, insider trading, and disclosure rules like reg FD. So why does the SEC think a settlement that hides the facts of the case from the public help “maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets?” The only good fact the SEC can plead to against its record of abysmal defense of the public against security fraudsters–recidivist ones at that–is that compared to the DOJ the SEC looks like an aggressive watchdog. I hope that if your order is appealed, it stands, and trial goes forward as you’ve set it. Truth must out. Thank you for being a public interest champion Sincerely, Abigail Caplovitz Field   http://www.linkedin.com/share?viewLink=&sid=s729344890&url=http%3A%2F%2Flnkd%2Ein%2Fsx9ePA&urlhash=Q_A1&uid=5547389180482428928&trk=EML_nus_share-F19&ut=1WMtgQBMn1o501

 

You shall not oppress or molest a foreigner, for you were once foreigners yourselves

Detail from Station of the Cross, Cathedral of the Holy Name, Chicago, October 23, 2011

You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan...
If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
Exodus 22:20-26

Comment-in support of maintaining the Florida Statewide Homestead Mortgage Mediation Program - Submitted Oct 3 2011 by Elizabeth M. Boyle, Gulfcoast Legal Services, Inc.

 The Florida Supreme Court is convening committees to review the Statewide Mediation Program just over a year after the program's inception.  Here is a link to the website: http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/foreclosure.shtml    I urge you to make your voice heard. As a legal aid attorney I have helped hundreds of Florida homeowners who have found themselves in the precarious and extremely frightening situation of losing their family home as a result of the sudden, unprecedented financial crisis.  At the end of 2011, we are only beginning to understand the depth of the recession following the near collapse of the American financial system in September of 2008.  In the newspaper on October 1, 2011, it was reported that in Manatee and Sarasota counties in Florida over 46,000 jobs were lost during this period.  One in 4 residential homes in Florida have been adversely affected by this crisis.  The remedy of foreclosure was not meant to be employed on a massive scale, against 1 in 4 families all at once.  The fact that so many people are subjected to homestead foreclosure at one time points to the fact that the lenders improvidently changed the rules of lending.  Using homestead property to collateralize an unsustainable loan is, on the part of the lender, a predatory practice.  To allow foreclosure of the homestead violates the principal of Florida’s constitutional homestead protection.  This widespread use of foreclosure has destabilized thousands of communities at the same time. COMMENT: Keep the Florida Statewide homestead mediation program as it is and continue the program indefinitely. Thank you.

Foreclosure Crisis Continues in Florida

 

From the Florida Bar News September 15, 2011 By Gary Blankenship, Esquire
The backlog of foreclosure cases in Florida courts has been reduced by more than 40 percent in the past year, due to both stepped-up efforts by the courts and from cases being dismissed or dropped by lenders. But nearly a quarter of the state’s properties with mortgages are either in foreclosure or behind on payments. Statistics from the Office of the State Courts Administratorshow that 201,524 foreclosure cases were disposed last year, with 96,630 being handled by summary and final judgments and 104,126 being dismissed. Most of those dismissed cases could later be refiled. As of June 30, the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year, 260,815 of the foreclosure cases pending at the start of the year remained in the court system. They were joined by around 117,000 fresh cases filed during the year — a lower number than expected because many lenders self-imposed a moratorium after problems surfaced with their paperwork.
To read the rest of the  story follow this link :https://www.floridabar.org/__85256AA9005B9F25.nsf/0/43AE82302E5EBAC4852579090041ED36?OpenDocument

The Evolving Legal Specialty of Foreclosure Defense in Florida and the lack of reasonable Loan Modifications Explained

 
This letter by Hollywood, Florida, attorney Evan M. Rosen appeared in the September 1, 2011, edition of The Florida Bar News. Homeowner's Defense Attorneys: Work Very Hard to Do All You Can Do to Achieve Your Client's Goals.

In response to Mr. Ryan’s letter in the August 1 Newsregarding the morass that is loan modification work, his letter serves to underscore the point that foreclosure defense is not a field for practitioners to take lightly.
Born primarily out of the banks’ rush to profit and their rush to foreclose, there is now a new legal practice area for lawyers. Combining multi-state UCC and trust formation, securitization, RESPA, TILA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Dodd-Frank, United States Bankruptcy Code, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Consumer Collection Practices Act, along with transfer of real property and mortgage law, service of process, the rules of civil procedure, the evidence code, and more, foreclosure defense is without a doubt its own new complicated specialty.
The approach about which Mr. Ryan wrote, corresponding with banks to ask for a modification, is unfortunately rarely feasible. First of all, there is a well-reasoned school of thought that most servicers have a conflict of interest in modifying loans. Additionally, divulging your client’s financial history is not only irrelevant to any legal issue at hand, but it is also most often not in your clients’ best interest.
The larger concern is that the servicers’ repeated requests for financial information under the guise of a loan modification might instead just be a fishing expedition to see if your client has any assets which would be recoverable in a deficiency. The process of simultaneously foreclosing while reviewing an application for a loan modification is so widely utilized that it has been dubbed “dual track.”
Instead, through leverage, primarily applied via the application of proper legal and ethical defenses, along with continually trying to educate the lender and their lawyer of the market value, we aim to demonstrate that the real party in interest is often better off in a workout than they will be post foreclosure.
The time involvement in these cases can be extensive, and in the end, the only guarantee you can make is that you will work very hard and do all that you can to help your clients achieve their goals.
Evan M. Rosen
Hollywood, Florida

Director’s Corner by John P. Cunningham, Esq., Executive Director

At a time when legal aid offices are triaging calls for assistance, this year's class of law graduates is having the most difficult time in decades finding employment. Were it not for cutbacks in federal, state, local and IOTA funding, many of these graduates could bring their training, enthusiasm and creativity to a legal services program. The economy is certainly a negative contributing factor to the downsizing of legal services to the poor, but until our nation is willing to act on the long established principles of equal justice for all, many will continue to be denied legal counseling and representation. There is, however, some good news in the growth of pro bono volunteerism by attorneys (last year nearly 8,300 hours were donated by attorneys working with GLS clients) and by law students. Fortunately, the future is hopeful, as this is America, and we are not about to forget for long the promise of liberty and justice for all. www.gulfcoastlegal.org

Attorney Adriana Dinis Receives prestigious InterCultural Advocacy Institute Tenth Annual Hero Award

One June 24, 2011, the InterCultural Advocacy Institute awarded attorney Adriana Dinis of   GULFCOAST LEGAL SERVICES, INC., (www.gulfcoastlegal.org)  the prestigious Hero
  Award at its tenth anniversary celebration. Adriana is the staff attorney for GLS CHILD, a program which provides specialized legal services, education and advocacy on behalf of immigrant children in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota Counties.http://www.gulfcoastlegal.org/legal-help/gls-child. She received the award in front of 170 attendees for her outstanding work on behalf of refugee and immigrant children.   Adriana has helped over a hundred children gain status in the United States. These are children who have been abused abandoned or neglected by their parents or victims of serious crimes.  Ms. Dinis has been an attorney with Gulfcoast Legal Services since 2008. To read more about her work and the work of GLS CHILD, click this link p://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article1023473.ece