"The Eleventh Judicial Circuit Does Not Have A Rocket Docket!" Says Judge As She Dismisses Foreclosure Action, Cancels Debt Over Sloppy Paperwork

The Palm Beach Post last week obtained a copy of the 57-page transcript of a February 11, 2011 hearing in which Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Maxine Cohen Lando rips into attorney Marc A. Ben-Ezra, of the Ft. Lauderdale-based foreclosure mill Ben-Ezra & Katz, P.A. for the crappy paperwork filed in a foreclosure action that was apparently improperly brought.

After placing the world on notice that:

• ... the Eleventh Judicial Circuit does not have a rocket docket. We take every case seriously. We believe that every case deserves the Court's full attention and we expect the lawyers on those cases to do the same[,]

Judge Lando proceeds to:

• dismiss the foreclosure action with prejudice,
• cancel the promissory note and dismiss it with prejudice based on an IRS Form 1099-A, Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property, that was apparently filed and sent to the homeowner in this case,
• invite homeowner's attorney to "go for some other form of judgment" for any other remedy that might be available,
• announce that an order will be drafted finding both Ben-Ezra and a former associate in contempt of court,
• announce that she will send the contempt of court order to The Florida Bar for its review and consideration of any disciplinary action,
• order Ben-Ezra to pay the legal fees and costs incurred by the homeowner for his attorney fees incurred in defending this foreclosure action.

Ben-Ezra makes a valiant but ultimately futile attempt to throw himself on the mercy of the court in order to dodge being found in contempt of court, but Judge Lando refused to yield to his 'pure heart and empty head' defense.(1)

The transcript should serve as required reading for the rubber-stamping, "rocket docket" judges in Ft. Myers, Jacksonville, and anywhere else in Florida who are intent on bulldozing foreclosure cases through the court system based on faulty documents.

For the transcript, see Central Mortgage Company v. Gonzalez Del Real.

Go here for Judge Lando's earlier ruling in this case granting homeowner's motion to vacate the foreclosure judgment.

(1) For an earlier post on this story and more on the "pure heart and empty head defense," see Head Of Florida Foreclosure Mill Ordered Into Court To Explain Dubious Document Filings In Recently-Dismissed Suit.