"I Don't Know Why They Do Crappy Work!" Responds B'klyn Jurist When Asked About The 'Sludge' From Banks, Foreclosure Mills That Clogs Up His Courtroom

A recent story(1) in the New York Post reports on a recent interview it had with Kings County (Brooklyn) Supreme Court Justice Arthur M. Schack on the large number of foreclosure dismissals in his courtroom for a procedure that is often routinely granted:

• "I read papers. I ask questions. I look at things and this is what I come up with. That's why some foreclosures are denied," according to Judge Schack. He raises questions about the assignment of ownership. He raises questions about attorneys' knowledge of the facts. He raises questions about potential attorney conflicts of interest.

• All these irregularities raise Judge Schack's ire when asked why so many foreclosure applications get tossed. "I'm not the creator of this mess," he complained. The mess, he said, is in the recording and assignment of mortgage sales. Often people with physical control of a mortgage agreement come to his courtroom, he noted, but don't have clear title to the property.

• "It's not my fault. I'm not the bank. Ask Chase Manhattan. Ask Deutsche Bank. Ask Bank of New York. Ask Wells Fargo. I don't know why they do crappy work," said the judge.

• Asked about Judge Schack, a JPMorgan Chase spokesman said "We're not going to comment on that."

For more, see Mortgage mayhem (B'klyn judge tosses bad foreclosure filings).

(1) A point made in the following excerpt in the story, as originally reported, merits a bit of clarification:

• Indeed, the Web site [The] Home Equity Theft Reporter awarded the judge its Restore Integrity Award for "his appropriately strict scrutiny of foreclosure cases before him."

In fact, the Restore Integrity Award is an award given by the grassroots good government and legal reform advocate known as POPULAR (Power Over Poverty Under Laws of America Restored). See Judges Dominate Group’s Year-end “Restore Integrity Award”. This blog simply noted the well-deserved honor in an earlier post.