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Foreclosure Mill Settles With Florida Attorney General

By: William E. Lewis Jr. (Diary)  |  April 14th, 2011 at 06:14 AM  | 

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Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced today a first-of-its-kind settlement against attorney Marshall C. Watson and his law firm – the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson – for alleged improprieties in the prosecution of foreclosure cases throughout Florida.  

This settlement calls for a $2 million payment and imposition of certain requirements to conduct business and is the first stemming from numerous investigations into Florida foreclosure law firms.

“We are aggressively investigating these law firms in order to protect the interests of everyone involved in foreclosure proceedings. Homeowners, lending institutions and the courts deserve to know that the law is being followed and all documentation is true and accurate,” stated Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Anything short of total assurance of complete accuracy during such serious situations is unacceptable.”

Florida led the nation in the investigation of law firms and foreclosure mills engaged in the improper production and filing of foreclosure documents. The Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson fully cooperated with the investigation since its inception.

Half of the $2 million payment from Marshall Watson’s law firm to the Attorney General’s Office will be contributed to the Florida Bar Foundation to continue the Florida Attorney General Mortgage Foreclosure Grant Program. This grant program provides for the funding of Legal Aid attorney positions throughout Florida specifically devoted to the representation of low-income individuals facing foreclosure actions.

The investigation of the Florida Attorney General into the practices of several other Florida law firms is continuing.

To access the Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, please click here: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/SKNS-8FAHED/$file/WatsonAVC.pdf

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  • ruexperienced

    I don’t

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    First of all, let’s get one thing straight. No matter what the law firm did, the owners of the property were legally in default, in other words, they stopped making their house payments. If you receive a notice of default from a lender, proof of payment – certified bank statements showing payments will work just fine – will stop all legal action and a court will lift the NOD and void any interest, penalties or legal charges in about two minutes.

    Now then, as to the firm and the settlement, they bought peace. The State AG went after them civilly – and the State AGs in a bunch of other states are doing the same thing to other law firms – and wrung out a chump change settlement. Tell me, is anybody actually going to jail? Anybody actually break a real law? The answer is no.

    As far as their largesse in tossing money to the State Bar to represent “the poor”, give me a freaking break. Check in with the bar in a year and see if they can cite ONE case where they were able to stop a foreclosure.

    Foreclosure is a very straight-forward administrative process and the burden of contractual proof is black letter. A buyer signs a mortgage which is a promise to repay a loan over a specific term and at specified conditions. It gives the lender “or it’s assigns”, who are down stream investors who buy and/or service the note, a security interest in the property. If the borrower doesn’t live up to the terms of the contract and make the payments he agreed to there is an administrative default process outlined in the note. It’s all boring as hell and there’s no “he-said-she-said” allowed since all terms of residential real estate contracts MUST be in writing, no verbal stuff allowed. No payments, lose the house. Make payments, keep the house.

    The FL AG, and the AGs of other states are doing nobody any favors with this crap.