Fla. F'closure Mill Wins Round 1 In State AG's Dubious Document Probe; Is Appeal Next, Or Will AG Give Up & Throw In The Towel? (Everyone's Watching!)

In West Palm Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:

• Florida's attorney general has no authority to investigate or discipline one of the state's large foreclosure law firms, a Palm Beach County judge ruled Monday.

• The five-page ruling from Circuit Judge Jack S. Cox was in response to a request from the Shapiro & Fishman law firm to quash an attorney general's subpoena for information. The attorney general's office announced in August it was investigating Shapiro & Fishman, which has offices in Boca Raton and Tampa, as well as two other large firms that represent lenders in foreclosure hearings.

• Cox said the Florida Bar, not the attorney general's office, is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct, including complaints that foreclosure paperwork was doctored in order to rush cases through the courts.(1)

For more, see Judge rules in favor of so-called foreclosure mill.

(1) A notation on the Florida AG's website indicates that its probe "relates to a civil -- not a criminal -- investigation." The AG's office was not probing possible criminal conduct, but possible civil violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (F.S. 501.201 et seq.).

I may be wrong on this, but on the surface, this court's ruling supports the seemingly ridiculous proposition that Florida attorneys and law firms are immune from civil lawsuits (at least those brought by the state attorney general) for violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. An appeal should be forthcoming, in my view.

Maybe the state AG's office would be better off conducting a (or "recruiting" the local county prosecutor's office and/or U.S. Attorney's office for participation in a joint) criminal investigation, which clearly is not within the purview of The Florida Bar ("A guardian for the integrity of the legal profession" in Florida, according to its website).