|
Article
and Video Courtesy of Channel 8 News
By Shannon
Behnken
Published
November 5, 2013
|
 Watch
VIDEO
|
TAMPA, FL -- South Florida attorney David J. Stern
may be known as the mortgage industry's "foreclosure king," but he may
soon lose his authority to practice law in Florida.
Stern's empire shut down in 2010, after employees went public with
allegations that they were given cars, jewelry and even houses in
exchange for falsifying and forging documents. Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac, Stern's largest clients, canceled contracts with the David J. Stern
law firm.
Years after the Florida Bar started
investigating Stern, it wants to disbar him. This week,
Judge Nancy Perez agreed. In her report, she said Stern,
"created chaos on the courts of the state of Florida,
prejudicing the whole system as a whole."
Perez's recommendation for disbarment still needs to be
approved by the Florida Supreme Court, and Stern could
appeal.
During the housing downturn, many lenders turned to Stern's
law firm to handle foreclosures because he took houses away
from homeowners quickly. |
|
|
Tampa Bay foreclosure defense attorney Mike Wasylik
testified during Stern's 5-day trial earlier this month. Wasylik
represents homeowners in foreclosure cases and discovered problems with
notarizations.
"He was responsible for overseeing thousands, upon, thousand of
foreclosure cases, in which many people lost their homes," Wasylik said
in an interview.
He went on to say, "The evidence
presented to the bar shows these documents were
systematically forged and falsified for the sole purpose of
being presented to the courts. What that means is that
people have lost their homes, based on evidence that was not
accurate, not true."
Many local homeowners found problems with signatures on
their foreclosure documents, handled by Stern's office. One
of those was the case of Anita and Troy Howell of Pinellas
County. When state authorities began investigating Stern in
2010, their case fell into limbo. |
|
|
"It's so frustrating when you try to do the right
thing and it turns around on you," Troy Howell said. "We both work, we
go in everyday, we have good jobs now and pay our bills."
The disbarment recommendation still needs the approval of the Florida
Supreme Court, and Stern could appeal.
Foreclosure defense attorneys say this action could pave the way for
them to win more cases. That's because thousands of Stern's Florida's
cases are still in legal limbo, and they say any document handled by
Stern's firm is tainted and can't be relied upon by the court.
|
