Florida Bar Finally Disciplines An Attorney For Foreclosure Mill Irregularities; Gets Firm Head To Accept 91-Day Suspension For Allegedly Paying Another Lawyer $1 Each For Robosigning 150,000 Fee Affidavits, Among Other Things

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

• The owner of the Fort Lauderdale-based Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson has agreed to plead guilty to offenses found during a Florida Bar investigation in what is believed to be the first disciplinary action taken by the regulatory group against a so-called foreclosure mill.
  
  The consent judgment, which still requires approval by the Florida Supreme Court, would suspend attorney Marshall C. Watson for 91 days _ a move that means the closure of his firm _ and require him to pay $30,000 for a record-keeping analysis, plus $5,931 for the Bar investigation.
  
  All suspensions of 91 days or greater require proof of rehabilitation and approval of the Florida Supreme Court before a lawyer may be reinstated to the practice of law.
  
  Signed in December, the agreement accuses Watson of failing to develop foreclosure policies for firm employees and includes charges that the firm routinely filed court documents alleging a mortgage note was lost without confirming that its clients had in fact lost the note.
  
  Filing a “lost note count” was a time-saving tactic for lender firms. The note was typically found before final judgment.
  
  Foreclosure defense attorneys concerned that no one would be held accountable for shoddy and fraudulent foreclosure practices in Florida lauded the Bar’s action. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s investigation into several of the companies was shut down last year after a state Supreme Court decision upheld a ban on her ability to subpoena the firms.
  
  “What is groundbreaking about the plea agreement is that it holds Mr. Watson accountable, not for doing these things himself, but for failing to supervise and train his associates and control firm policies so that others didn’t do these things,” said Royal Palm Beach-based foreclosure defense attorney Tom Ice. “It acknowledges that many of the practices we have been complaining about were actually taking place.”
  
  A message left at the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson was not returned Monday. The Florida Department of State website shows the firm officially changed its name to Choice Legal Group late last month.
  
  Watson’s firm was the only one of those investigated by Bondi’s office that settled its case with the attorney general. In March 2011, the firm signed a $2 million consent agreement while admitting no wrongdoing.
  
  Charges against Watson in the Bar’s 12-page “conditional guilty plea for consent judgment” include that an attorney contracted by the firm was paid $1 each for signing approximately 150,000 fee affidavits. Of those, an unknown number of which were fraudulently notarized.
  
  In “numerous instances” only the last sheet of the fee affidavit was given to the attorney to sign despite the fact that he was swearing to the truth and accuracy of the entire document, according to the judgment.

For the story, see Foreclosure mill head faces Florida Bar discipline.