Cattle Call Of 9,000 Wayward Lawsuits Abandoned By Dethroned Foreclosure Mill King Set For Hearing & Possible Dismissal In Palm Beach County

In West Palm Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:

• Palm Beach County courts will sort through nearly 9,000 wayward foreclosures in a cattle call of cases from the collapsed Law Offices of David J. Stern. Chief Judge Peter Blanc ordered hearings for pending Stern foreclosures that the firm has said it no longer has the manpower to withdraw from as counsel of record.
• For homeowners, a Friday letter from Blanc to Stern outlining the procedures for case management conferences could mean a dismissal if no one from the bank's side attends the hearing. The bank could re-file the foreclosure, but it would likely cause a delay of months or even a year considering the recent slowdown in new filings.
• Stern told judges in a March 4 letter that he was shutting down his foreclosure business at the end of the month, leaving as many as 100,000 cases statewide in limbo. Blanc asked Stern in his response to reconsider the "unilateral decision to cease representation" of the cases because it is not an approved or recognized way for an attorney to quit a case.

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• The chief judges in both [Miam-Dade and Broward] counties agree that Stern's letter is not a legal way to withdraw from cases. Linda Kelly Kearson, general counsel for the Miami-Dade courts, wrote in her response to Stern that a withdrawal from an estimated 20,000 cases could not occur with the "submission of a 575-page list of case numbers to the chief judge." Stern's attempt "does not comply with the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and is thus, unacceptable," she wrote.
• Stern lost most of his foreclosure business in the fall following allegations of mishandled and possibly fraudulent paperwork. The transfer of cases to new attorneys has been difficult, especially considering the firm has since laid off much of its staff.

For more, see South Florida law firm's demise puts 9,000 foreclosures in limbo.