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Orlando Eslava wanted from his lender was a loan modification to make his payments affordable. Instead, he got his $207,000 mortgage wiped out — an...
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Orlando Eslava wanted from his lender was a loan modification to make his payments affordable. Instead, he got his $207,000 mortgage wiped out — and a crash course in the confusing way foreclosures are unfolding in a court system chock-a-blocked with cases.
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The teacher was Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Bailey, who cancelled Eslava’s debt after lender HSBC Bank USA ignored her previous order to post a $414,000 bond.
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Bailey said the actions of William Huffman, HSBC’s lawyer from Tampa-based Florida Default Law Group, were “contemptuous,” according to a court hearing transcript.
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SEE ATTCHED TRANSCRIPT
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HSBC’s run-in with Bailey began in December 2009 when she granted the lender’s motion for the foreclosure sale of Eslava’s one-bedroom unit at El Dorado Tower in Aventura. But HSBC lost the note on Eslava’s property. So the judge ordered the lender to post a $414,000 bond to indemnify Eslava in case another lender filed a claim against the unit.
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According to court records, HSBC and Florida Default did not post the bond and proceeded with an April 9 foreclosure sale that gave the lender title to the condo.
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Eslava and his lawyer, Sheleen Khan, sought to overturn the sale, claiming the lender violated Bailey’s court order. At a May 6 hearing, Bailey dismissed the foreclosure case with prejudice, which prevents the lender from suing Eslava again. The judge also canceled the mortgage and ordered HSBC to return title of the condo to Eslava.
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“None of us is above the law,” Khan said. “This is a landmark ruling.”
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In addition to canceling the mortgage, Bailey chastised Huffman, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained by The Daily Business Review.
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“When the order is simply ignored … at the end of the day, you’re the lawyer, you’re responsible,” she said.
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Bailey did not sanction Huffman but said he should consider her order a “wake-up call.”
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“Some day, this foreclosure crisis is going to be over, and you need to decide what kind of lawyer you are going to be,” Bailey told him. “Because at the end of the day, you are responsible for your client’s compliance with court orders.”
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Huffman apologized. He said his client failed to post bond because he had misunderstood the order, according to the transcript.
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“I don’t want apologies,” Bailey replied. “I want performance. I want responsible attorneys who meet the basic standards of knowing what … is going on in their files.”
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Huffman did not return a telephone call or e-mail seeking comment.
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Bailey’s frustration with the lender and Florida Default weren’t limited to Eslava’s case. She complained about the general “chaos and disorganization” of lenders and their lawyers.
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Suzanne Hill, who represented Huffman and his firm at the hearing, said Florida Default was weighing its options, which include appealing Judge Bailey’s ruling or seeking a rehearing.
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Hill, who is with the law firm of Rumberger Kirk & Caldwell in Tampa, declined further comment.
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An attempt to buy time
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Eslava, 53, a residential agen
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