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Judge Cohen Lando Lowers the Boom on Marc Ben-Ezra.

I don't get why banks think the rules of evidence don't seem to apply to them.

Their argument on missing/misfiled/wrong docs is always basically "but come on, judge."

Would this work for anyone else?

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maxine Cohen Lando expressed her displeasure Friday in a case that involved a property in Homestead with a $265,134 foreclosure judgment issued in July.

Lando said the so-called original note and original mortgage were filed months after the bank said those documents were lost.

"That in itself is a fraud upon the court," Lando wrote in an order to show cause as to why she should not hold Ben-Ezra & Katz attorneys in contempt.

But, she added, the action "pales in comparison" to the fact that the mortgage and note are to a different property in Lehigh Acres, and that the documents are improperly signed and notarized. Lando said her verbal contempt finding on Friday would be followed by a written order.

Although Marc Ben-Ezra, 44, was not the direct attorney handling the case, the homeowner's attorney Maria Mussari said the judge ordered the owner or head of the firm to appear. Ben-Ezra has no disciplinary history with the Florida Bar.

It's way past time there is some accountability not just in foreclosure work but with all sworn evidence submitted  -- if it doesn't fit, don't submit.

Marc's firm says it was trying to fix the problem:

In a statement late Thursday, the law firm acknowledged it had found "technical paperwork issues," but added that "there is no issue of whether the information in the affected files is correct. No homeowner has been hurt because of this."

The firm said it was correcting the issues. "Fannie Mae did not give us the chance to execute that plan," the statement said.

Is this blaming the client?

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on February 12, 2011 (boomark / email).