Rubber-Stamping Judge Threatens Foreclosure Defense Legal Aid Lawyer With Contempt For Bringing Media Member To Observe Rocket Docket

Buried in a recent story in Rolling Stone, in which columnist Matt Taibbi writes about, among other things, his experience witnessing the proceedings in the Jacksonville, Florida foreclosure 'rocket docket' of Judge A.C. Soud, is the following excerpt:

• Just minutes before, I had watched what happens when defendants don't show up in court: kerchunk! The judge more or less automatically rules for the plaintiffs when the homeowner is a no-show. But when the plaintiff doesn't show, the judge is suddenly all mercy and forgiveness. Soud simply continues [homeowner Shawnetta] Cooper's case, telling [foreclosure mill lawyer Mark] Kessler to get his [*]hit together and come back for another whack at her in a few weeks. Having done this, he dismisses everyone.

• Stunned, Cooper wanders out of the courtroom looking like a person who has stepped up to the gallows expecting to be hanged, but has instead been handed a fruit basket and a new set of golf clubs. I follow her out of the court, hoping to ask her about her case. But the sight of a journalist getting up to talk to a defendant in his kangaroo court clearly puts a charge into His Honor, and he immediately calls Cooper back into the conference room. Then, to the amazement of everyone present, he issues the following speech:
  
  "This young man," he says, pointing at me, "is a reporter for Rolling Stone. It is your privilege to talk to him if you want." He pauses. "It is also your privilege to not talk to him if you want."

• I stare at the judge, open-mouthed. Here's a woman who still has to come back to this guy's court to find out if she can keep her home, and the judge's admonition suggests that she may run the risk of pissing him off if she talks to a reporter.

• Worse, about an hour later, [Jacksonville Area Legal Aid's] April Charney, the lawyer who accompanied me to court, receives an e-mail from the judge actually threatening her with contempt for bringing a stranger to his court. Noting that "we ask that anyone other than a lawyer remain in the lobby," Judge Soud admonishes Charney that "your unprofessional conduct and apparent authorization that the reporter could pursue a property owner immediately out of Chambers into the hallway for an interview, may very well be sited [sic] for possible contempt in the future."

• Let's leave aside for a moment that Charney never said a word to me about speaking to Cooper. And let's overlook entirely the fact that the judge can't spell the word cited. The key here isn't this individual judge — it's the notion that these hearings are not and should not be entirely public. Quite clearly, foreclosure is meant to be neither seen nor heard.

For more (column contains a sprinkle of "f-bombs" and other equally indelicate "terms of art"), see Matt Taibbi: Courts Helping Banks Screw Over Homeowners (Retired judges are rushing through complex cases to speed foreclosures in Florida).