Open Letter to Chief Judge Blanc – Palm Beach County
In recent weeks, I’ve noticed two things out of Palm Beach County that really concern me. First, I saw this article in the Palm Beach Post, where Chief Judge Blanc discussed the backlog in foreclosure cases and his belief that “it is important to clear the foreclosure cases so that vacant and dilapidated homes can go back on the market, presumably increasing neighborhood property values.” As I explained in my blog entitled “Who is Harming the Economy – BANKS, Not My Clients” (below), it’s clear that banks are the reason for these abandoned homes, not homeowners, and pushing foreclosure cases through will only make things worse in that regard, not better.
Then, just yesterday, I saw this 103-page (103 page!!) Palm Beach foreclosure docket set for August 2, 2010 (h/t Lisa Epstein of foreclosure hamlet). At that point, I felt compelled to write an
Open Letter to Chief Judge Blanc
In so doing, I am really trying to be respectful and not be critical. That said, I am going to keep writing letters like this, just as I’ve done to Chief Judge McGrady in Pinellas and Chief Judge Menendez in Hillsborough, in the hopes that Florida judges will realize there are more important concerns than the backlog in their cases. With billions of dollars changing hands via foreclosure judgments, isn’t it time that judges take a long and hard look at the environment they’re creating by “pushing through” foreclosure cases? As I explain in the letter, there are a lot of far-reaching consequences of these foreclosure cases, and it’s time that everyone take stock of the situation. Continuing to “push through” foreclosure cases, hundreds at a time, is simply not the answer.
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