Florida Couple To Pursue Foreclosure Mill For Alleged Inflated Fee Squeeze

In Central Florida, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:

• A North Port couple says a Florida law firm charged them unwarranted and excessive fees as they tried to save their home from foreclosure, and their attorneys believe the firm did it to hundreds of other troubled homeowners, too.

• Last week, David and Kayleen Keyser filed a complaint in their foreclosure case against Kahane and Associates law firm in Plantation, the latest in a string of class actions from Gulfcoast Legal Services(1) in Sarasota that target unfair collection practices in foreclosures.

• On Wednesday, Kahane abruptly dropped the foreclosure case against the Keysers, which cancelled out the Keysers complaint. Gulfcoast attorneys say it was on the eve of the lender having to produce the underlying invoices for the fees.

• That means the truck driver and grocery store manager can remain in their house where they raise three children without paying the mortgage, for now. The lender or firm would have to pay court costs to file foreclosure again. "I don't expect the foreclosure suit to be refiled anytime soon," Gulfcoast attorney Elizabeth Boyle said.

• But it does not mean the Keysers will stop pursuing their class-action suit. Gulfcoast plans to refile the lawsuit as early as today in a new case, trying to discover if hundreds of other homeowners faced the same inflated and unsubstantiated fees from Kahane since 2006.

For more, see North Port pair fights fees in foreclosure skirmish.

(1) Gulfcoast Legal Services is a non-profit corporation providing free legal aid to income eligible residents of the greater Tampa Bay area. We have offices in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota and Hillsborough Counties.