Brooklyn Judge Rips Foreclosing Lender, Lawyer For Littering Courtroom With Unverified Paperwork

In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Post reports:

• Lawyers handling foreclosures in New York will think twice about showing up in court without the proper paperwork after a Brooklyn judge ripped into lender Citigroup and its unprepared lawyer.

• On Monday, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Arthur Schack mocked the bank and its lawyer for failing to ensure the accuracy of papers filed in a foreclosure case. "The court does not work for Citi and cannot wait for Citi, a multi-billion-dollar financial behemoth to get its act together," Schack said, in throwing out the case.

• The decision follows a new rule implemented by the chief judge of New York's courts requiring every lawyer handling a foreclosure to sign a form verifying that all paperwork in the case is correct. Since the rule was enacted in October, lenders have largely stopped pursuing the 80,000 foreclosure cases pending in the state.(1)

For more, see Judge reams Citi housing lawyer.

For Justice Schack's ruling, see CitiMortgage, Inc. v Nunez, 2010 NY Slip Op 52142(U) (NY Sup. Ct., Kings County, December 13, 2010).

(1) According to an October 20, 2010 press release, New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said the purpose of the new rule is to ensure "that the documents judges rely on will be thoroughly examined, accurate, and error-free before any judge is asked to take the drastic step of foreclosure."