Firm Obtains $65,523.75 judgment against HSBC

Excerpt from 5 page Final Judgment for Attorney's Fees & Costs

Shuster & Saben has obtained what is believed to be the largest 2014 attorney fee judgment awarded in a Brevard County foreclosure action.  The award was entered in favor of our client, a Space Coast homeowner, whose foreclosure action the firm defended since the action was filed in early 2010.  The firm spent over 100 hours defending the case before ultimately defeating HSBC Mortgage Services and their counsel, Albertelli Law, P.A.  After we obtained judgment on the pleadings against HSBC, the bank appealed the case to the Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal.  The Fifth District Court of Appeal dismissed HSBC’s appeal after the bank failed to pay an appellate filing fee after being ordered to do so by the Appellate Court. 

At the inception of the case, we asked HSBC to modify our client’s loan.  As a foreign bank  H.S.B.C. (stands for Hong Kong Shanghi Bank of China ) did not receive TARP bailout money so they had no obligation to the U.S. Treasury to make loan modifications under HAMP.  HSBC denied our request for loan modification and advised that our client’s income exceeded income thresholds for their internal loan modification program.  Once diplomacy failed it was time for firm to do everything in our power to keep the client in his home.  Our fight came to end nearly four years later after we defeated HSBC in the trial court and again on appeal.

Our client hired our firm under a partial contingency fee agreement in which the client paid for the first hour we worked on his case each month.  All of the rest of the hours the firm worked were on a pure contingency fee basis.  If we did not win this case our firm would have been paid for less than half of the hours we spent on the case.   True foreclosure defense meaning defending a case with a goal of winning the case at trial takes far more work than engaging in mere stall tactics that are commonly employed by some general practitioners who “handle” foreclosures from time to time.  By using a partial contingency fee agreement our firm can offer services that are affordable to the consumer but still get paid for the huge investment of time that goes into winning a foreclosure case. 

When our firm collects on this judgment our client will receive over $20,000.00 from the recovery and will get almost all of the money he paid our firm back.  Our client remains in his Palm Bay home.  Now that the time for HSBC to appeal the attorney fee judgment has expired our firm will levy on the judgment by having the Sheriff seize the bank's assets if the judgment in not paid within a reasonable time. To view a redacted copy of the judgment click here.

Foreclosure Appeal Victory for Space Coast Homeowner

Shuster & Saben Defeats US Bank & Douglas Zahm PA in Foreclosure Appeal

In 2011, firm attorney Richard Shuster obtained the dismissal of a foreclosure case filed against a Brevard County law enforcement officer.  After the case was dismissed our firm filed a motion for attorney’s fees to recover money from U.S. Bank to reimburse as much as possible of the fees paid by the homeowner to our firm and to recover payment for the portion for our time that was spent on a pure contingency fee basis.  (Under our firm’s retainer agreement, a substantial portion of the time spent on the case is on a contingency fee basis meaning unless we win the case and recover fees from the bank we do not get paid for the time).  On January 12, 2012, a fee hearing was conducted before Brevard Circuit Judge John D. Moxley, Jr. to determine the amount of attorney’s fees US Bank would have to pay.  The case had numerous hearings after U.S. Bank’s lawyers, Douglas Zahm, P.A. had objected to almost all of the homeowner’s discovery requests, and our firm had to repeatedly go to Court to obtain orders overruling the bank’s objections and ordering the bank to provide discovery.

The time sheet filed by Douglas Zahm’s office showed they had worked approximately seventy hours by the time the bank moved for summary judgment.  Ultimately our firm worked over 100 hours on the case before we obtained a dismissal.  At the fee hearing the Court awarded 95 of the 101 ours we requested. After adding expert witness fees, costs, and interest, the attorney fee judgment against U.S. Bank came to $46,878.20.  This judgment was the largest fee judgment rendered against a bank in Brevard County in 2012.  The hours were much higher in this case because both firms fought the case very hard and “went to the mat.”

Trial & Appellate Files Stacked On Top Of Each Other

U.S. Bank brought in Lee L. Haas, a board certified business litigation attorney to handle the appeal.  Firm attorney, Richard Shuster, who handled the case at the trial level, fought on for the homeowner in the appeals Court.   While this was the firm’s first foreclosure appeal, Shuster had prior appellate experience in the First and Third District Court’s of Appeal.  The firm handled the appeal on a pure contingency fee basis, meaning the client paid no fees to our firm while the appeal was pending and the firm would only get paid if we won the appeal and appellate attorney’s fees were awarded.  During the fifteen months the appeal was pending our client paid nothing for attorney’s fees and made no mortgage payments.  The firm will now collect the original trial level fee award from the appellate bond paid by US Bank and seek additional appellate fees for writing an appellate brief that was approximately 40 pages long.  To view a redacted copy of the 5^th DCA’s Per Curium Affirmed Opinion clink here.  A Per Curium Affirmed opinion means the appellate Court unanimously found that the trial Court did not commit any errors.

About Shuster & Saben:  Shuster & Saben is a civil litigation firm with offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Satellite Beach.  The firm represent consumers in insurance litigation, consumer protection matters, fair debt collection practices act, and foreclosure cases. Homeowners looking for counsel with trial and appellate experience or with foreclosure questions can reach the firm at www.attorneyforeclosuredefense.com or e-mail Richard Shuster at foreclosuredefenselaw@gmail.com