Florida Bar Directs Attorneys To Notify Judges About Any Evidence Of Potential Foreclosure Fraud, Even If Case Is Closed & Home Has Been Auctioned Off

The Palm Beach Post reports:

• In an opinion that could have unfathomable consequences in countless foreclosure cases, The Florida Bar says attorneys must notify a judge about potential fraud — including robo-signed affidavits and forged notary stamps — even if a foreclosure case is closed and the home has been sold at auction.

• The direction was published in an article in today's issue of The Florida Bar News as part of an outline in a new free online foreclosure class offered by The Bar.(1) The class is in response to problems that led several major lenders to temporarily freeze foreclosures last fall.

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• [T]he biggest and most troublesome problem is what to do with cases that ended years ago. Can judges undo these foreclosures, and what happens in cases in which the home was sold to new owners without a clear title? As for discipline, the judges must decide what to do with fraud brought to their attention. Should they refer the cases to the Bar for further investigation or to legal authorities for prosecution?

• "It's going to create a huge mess. There's no other way to describe it," [St. Lucie Circuit Judge Burton] Conner said. "We just don't know how bad it really is. I guess you could say we're just waiting for the shoe to drop."

For more, see Florida Bar says foreclosure lawyers must report fraud to court.

(1) See The Florida Bar News: Free Bar foreclosure CLE ready for download:

• [Bar Ethics Counsel Elizabeth] Tarbert said the Professional Ethics Committee has opined that an attorney has an affirmative obligation, under Rule 4-3.3 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, to notify the court of a potential fraud when the attorney knows that a client has deliberately lied at a deposition. That also applies if the attorney receives information that clearly establishes that the client has perpetrated a fraud on the court by filing a false affidavit, such as when a false statement has been made in the affidavit or the affidavit has been improperly verified or notarized. Then the attorney’s duty to the court supersedes the attorney’s duty to the client, and the attorney must reveal the fraud to the court.