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TechnoratiLawyers Scarce for Poor Facing Foreclosure
Legal offices providing help to the poor are turning away many who have been hit hard by the economy, according to lawyers in cities across the country who were interviewed by USA TODAY.
![[A pre-foreclosure sign is displayed outside a home on Thursday in Miami. A new study by the Brennan Center for Justice found that many people now face complicated foreclosure proceedings with "no opportunity to obtain help from a lawyer." The deluge is hitting cities across the country, including Cleveland, Las Vegas, Washington, Phoenix and Miami. (Joe Raedle, Getty Images)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/foreclosurex-large.jpg "foreclosurex-large.jpg")
A study to be released today by the Brennan
Center for Justice found that many people now face complicated
foreclosure proceedings with "no opportunity to obtain help from a
lawyer."
The deluge is hitting cities across the country: Cleveland, Las Vegas, Washington, Phoenix, and others, USA TODAY found. In Chicago, the number of people seeking help has more than doubled over the past two years, says Dan Lindsey, who supervises a foreclosure program there. In Miami, so many people started seeking help that the local legal aid office now turns away everyone but people over 60 and families with children, says senior attorney Carolina Lombardi.
"It's overwhelming how many people don't have representation," says Melanca Clark, a Brennan Center for Justice lawyer and the study's author. "People don't know what to do when they have to go through this alone."
The Brennan Center, part of the New York University law school, found that it's tough to get help in several states. In parts of New York, more than 80% of homeowners facing foreclosures on high-risk mortgages did not have a lawyer. In Connecticut, about 60% of property owners didn't have a lawyer.
Hiring a private lawyer can cost over $5,000, a price out of reach for most homeowners who can't pay their mortgages, says AnnaMarie Johnson, executive director of Nevada Legal Services.
Meanwhile, the tide of foreclosures shows little sign of ebbing. The number of foreclosure filings last month was nearly 18% higher than in August 2008, according to the tracking firm RealtyTrac.
14 Comments so far
Show AllWhat about Marcy Kaptur's idea of asking for the original paper? That could work for some homeowners. The original loan may have been broken up and sold multiple times, making it virtually untraceable. If there is nobody specific holding the paper, nobody has the right to evict you.
Does anyone know if this has been tried and, if so, does it work?
Joe
". . .asking for the original paper?"
I tried this, it has not yet worked too well.
The bank just drummed up some papers. First they auctioned off the 3rd mortgage. No one was foolish enough to buy the 3rd as they would effectively be behind the owner of the 2nd (the same bank), who is behind the owner of the 1st mortgage (was wamu, now chase) in terms of who owns the house. By auctioning the 3rd and "buying" it themselves, they had the right to file for a trustee's deed and proceed along their merry way.
My totally unqualified advise is to get some paper yourself, file a quit claim deed with a friend.
I have a lawyer through legal insurance. Don't get me started on the lawyers - I'll just say you get what you pay for. $20/month doesn't buy much justice.
Peace,
Look a little bit deeper and you find that it is unscrupulous lawyers who are to blame for all of the troubles in the US (as facilitators). There may be a few decent ones, but I'll bet they never make any money.
Lawyers, lawmakers, corporates and banksters...the parasitic scourge of society.
This is one reason why I am still proud that my wife and I helped a young couple next to us who was about to face foreclosure due to the young man getting injured while trying to repair his own roof and ending up with medical expenses beyond his pay and a job layoff though he was later rehired after the employer finally sympathized with him. To hell with expensive lawyers. There are helpful Samaritans ready to help others in need and they won't charge.
Lawyer jokes aside, these people need lawyers and what is the Obama administration and Congress doing about that? Nothing. They're saving their political - and financial - capital for the next bank bailout. And now that the banks are flying high again, it will be coming.
I just got an offer from Chase. They want to give me $100 for opening a Chase checking account. So now they're using taxpayer dollars to appear legitimate. They can go to Hell.
There was a story recently about a Florida woman who came home and found herself locked out of her home, all her belongings on the street and a stranger in her home. Turns out Chase had listed the wrong home for a foreclosure auction. But it took her 3 days to get before a judge to get back in her home. Not as if Chase would say "oops" and straighten it out without a court order. That's Chase for you. And these are the people running our country.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
If one is to consider the question where does all of this misery originate. The vast majority of the 'law Makers' are "Lawyers", then, the banks that originated all of the misery with their practices were directed by their "Lawyers", then all of the 'bail out' funds that went to huge bonuses for the fools who created the problems in the first place, many of whom were "Lawyers"----made sure that they got 'some' as well as their 'clients'--'cause ya know, a contract is a contract'-------
Is it any wonder that so many people love to look at the 'humorous side' when discussing "Lawyers"-----
Q)"What is a thousand Lawyers floating down the Mississippi"?
A)'A Damn Good Start'----------
'A bus load of Lawyers falls off a cliff, and its a tragedy; when there are three empty seats its a 'national disaster'"
Q)"How can you tell when a Lawyer is lying"?
A)'his lips are moving'
Q)"How many Lawyers does it take to tell the truth?"
A)(Give up?)----"no body else knows the answer to that one either'.
Q)"Did you hear about the one where the 'Lawyer goes to heaven'?
A) Yea right, well it didn't happen!"
And MY favorite "Lawywer joke"
"Hey, you know all those 'Lawyer Jokes' are true"?
Two mosquitos were buzzing through town. Suddenly one of them zooms down to a fresh pile of dog poo and sucks on it. The other one was wondering, "Hey! Why the hell are you sucking on dog poo? What's wrong with you?!" The other said, "Yeah, I know but I just sucked on a lawyer and I had to get the yuk taste out of my mouth!"
No mention of the areas where most of the foreclosures are hitting....parts of California, Arizona, Florida and small areas of Southern Texas nor who the majority of sub-prime loans were made to.
I just love it when 'conservatives' use the argument that the mortgage crisis was the result of 'sub prime loans'.
So 'henry 8', how many millions were actually tied up in those 'sub prime loans' that were made to all those 'minority borrowers'----
Can you give the amount: or simply 'parrot' the other conservatives--- roosting in that 'shit bird tree' with you?
How much money in 'real dollars' was loaned to the 'sub prime market'?
Get back with us when you have a 'real answer'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime
Yeah, I bristle at that notion too. As if the little guys in sub-prime are able to dictate terms TO the kleptocrats.
You'll find the lawyers though, on the other side of the trade when these foreclosed houses are sold --to lawyers speculating on the rebound in housing prices
Oh big surprise, lol. Greedy lawyers!
In the 1980s I took a business law class in college and the instructor would signal that the class was over by uttering the same statement at the end of every class: "In all things legal, the question you have to ask is HOW MUCH JUSTICE CAN YOU AFFORD?"