Beginning Of A Well-Deserved End For NYS Foreclosure Mill Sweatshop? Freddie Gives Baum The Boot; Whether Others Follow Suit Remains To Be Seen

In Buffalo, New York, The Buffalo News reports:

• National mortgage servicing giant Freddie Mac has barred its loan servicers from referring any new foreclosure or bankruptcy cases in New York State to Steven J. Baum PC, delivering a severe blow to a firm that depends on such work.



• According to a new bulletin posted on the Freddie Mac website on Thursday, effective "on or after" Nov. 10, the Amherst-based law firm is no longer an approved option for the many mortgage lenders that work with Freddie Mac.

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• Baum has been under heavy fire around the state, and even nationwide, for the firm's role in mortgage foreclosures and the "robo-signing" controversy. He and his firm have been castigated not only by consumers and consumer advocates, but also by other attorneys and even some judges, who have criticized the firm's paperwork as sloppy and riddled with errors.

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• Most recently, it's been denounced for making fun of foreclosure victims, after photos emerged from the firm's Halloween party last year,(1) showing staff dressed up in costumes as debtors and, in one case, mocking a New York City attorney. The attorney, Susan Chana Lask, sued the firm in 2010 on behalf of a client, and then fought off a defamation suit from Baum.



• "This looks like the beginning of a well-deserved end for Baum," Lask said.

For more, see Freddie Mac bans Baum from N.Y. loan service.

(1) See The New York Times: What the Costumes Reveal.