Bank Must Pay Attorneys Fees In Stalled Foreclosure
Lenders Cannot Ignore Foreclosure Cases With Impunity. 
Becker & Poliakoff Attorney Scott Petersen obtains second court ruling requiring a lender and its attorneys to pay an association for failure to proceed with its foreclosure action and failure to obey Court Orders.
The Manatee Observer published an article yesterday notifying its readers that action on the part of a community association can achieve good results in bank foreclosure cases. The Bank of New York was recently ordered to pay a condominium association over Thirteen Thousand ($13,000) Dollars in sanctions, representing assessments that accrued during the stalled foreclosure case.
In the most recent case, Mr. Petersen filed a Motion to Compel after six (6) months of little or no activity in a bank foreclosure case. The Court granted the Motion and entered an Order requiring the bank to proceed. Later on the Court found that the bank did not show 'good cause' why it disobeyed the earlier ruling. The association incurred attorney's fees and costs for attendance at hearings, writing several letters demanding compliance and additional motions, including the Motion for Contempt - all sent without any response from the bank or its counsel. It took almost four (4) months for the bank's attorney to acknowledge the motions, letters and rulings. Another three (3) months went by before the bank filed any responses with the Court.
The responses were apparently too little too late. The Court granted the association's Motion for Contempt and awarded attorney's fees to the association.
The Association getting their fees back is fine and dandy, but what happened with the foreclosure? Was this whole case based upon the bank not responding to the attorney's letters in the first place? I would be interested in reading the facts of this case as I live in a condo and there is a foreclosure that has been sitting and there has been no response to our attorney from the bank. Maybe we need to get another attorney! Thank you for a response.
I was forwarded this information by one of my BOD members. I am President of Escada B HOA, and I do not receive these updates. Will you please start sending them to me. Loyd Tarver is our Manager and he has retained B&P as our legal representative. Thank you, Jeane Fullerton
Only problem is that an appellate court case ruled very clearly that motions to compel are not proper. Thus, you have a judge in the case below who is not following the law.
I would like Mr. Petersen's comments.....Thanks
RESPONSE: The Court in the Tadmore Case said it was not proper to require a bank to pay assessments before foreclosure (see the post on the blog). Courts have the power to impose sanctions for many reasons. In this particular case sanctions were awarded for failing to follow previous Court Orders, failing to appear in Court, failing to prosecute the foreclosure, etc.
The term "Motion to Compel" means different things to different people. The lesson here is that each case deserves independent evaluation and strategy.
Mr. Petersen:
According to my sources, the only problem is that an appellate court case ruled very clearly that motions to compel are not proper. Thus, you have a judge in the case below who is not following the law.
I would appreciate your comments.
Regards,
Thomas Bilotto
Manager
Casablanca Isles Condominium, Inc.
815 West Boynton Beach Blvd.
Boynton Beach, FL 33426
561-738-0003