Firm Sues Wells Fargo For Breach Of Settlement Agreement And Failure To Pay Agreed Cash For Keys

Firm Attorneys Purvi Patel and Richard Shuster are suing Wells Fargo again.

After keeping our disabled client his home for nearly four years, after Wells Fargo filed a foreclosure action against him, we reached a settlement to resolve his foreclosure case.  Our client, due to his disability, was not a viable candidate for a loan modification and Wells Fargo had a very strong case.  As such, when we conveyed Wells Fargo’s settlement offer to the client of a waiver of deficiency, 120 day sale date, and $3,500.00 cash-for-keys, it was clear that the settlement was in the client’s best interest.  After the client instructed us to accept the offer, we executed the settlement documents which were then counter-signed by Wells Fargo’s law firm, Ronald Wolfe and Associates, and filed with the Court.  Our client did his part by moving out of his home shortly before the sale date and leaving the property in good condition.  We waited patiently for the check to arrive, then some two months later started with polite reminders by E-mail and phone.  Several more months past, and the bank’s lawyers assured us that the matter was being “escalated” and that we would have a check in a few weeks.  After the bank’s lawyer’s pants caught fire we knew we had to do something.

Our first line of attack was to file a motion for sanctions to enforce the settlement agreement.  We wanted the foreclosure judge to see the nearly ten pages of E-mails requesting payment and the multiple broken promises from Wells Fargo and and their lawyers.  When we filed the motion for sanctions the bank’s lawyers shot back an E-mail asserting that the Court has lost jurisdiction because it had been more than thirty days since final judgment of foreclosure had been entered.  Rather than debate that point we simply filed a new lawsuit against Wells Fargo to collect the $3,500.00 of cash for keys together with interest and attorney’s fees. To see a redacted copy of the law suit we filed and many of the E-mails we sent click here.  Our new case is in County Court where judges only deal with civil cases involving disputes of less than $15,000.00.  Three thousand dollars might not be a bid deal to Wells Fargo but it is a big deal to a disabled veteran.

We realize that banks and loan servicers often fail to pay cash-for-keys in a timely manner.  We have had many cases where it took numerous calls and e-mails to obtain cash for keys checks and many more where we had to file a motion to enforce the settlement agreement in order to get our clients paid.  We regularly hear complaints about this from other foreclosure defenses lawyers and from Pro Se litigants. So we are going to do something about it.

Starting today, our firm will sue banks and loan servicers that breach cash-for-keys agreements even if we did not handle the underlying foreclosure case.   Since our firm has offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Satellite Beach, St. Petersburg and Jacksonville we can handle such cases in most Florida counties. We will accept such cases on a pure contingency fee basis, where the only fee we receive is a bank paid fee as ordered by the Court.  Under such a retainer the client will still receive 100% of their agreed cash for keys settlement.  We will also accept referrals from other foreclosure lawyers who don’t enjoy suing banks as much as we do.

$20,000 Cash for Keys – Deed In Lieu with Nationstar

Our client told us on day one, we do not want to keep the house, it has mold.  We already moved out.  We have already bought another home.  We want to give the house back and avoid personal liability because we are well over $100,000.00 upside down.  The first week we had the case we wrote the bank’s lawyers and offered them a deed in lieu of foreclosure if the bank would waive the deficiency.  Our offer was refused.  When the bank changed law firms we asked their new law firm if they would agree to a waiver of deficiency.  Again our request fell on deaf ears.  When the bank changed loan servicers, we again approached counsel about a waiver of deficiency and were told that a waiver of deficiency would not be approved because of a lien held by the second mortgage holder.  I then reached out to Bank of America who held the second mortgage and obtained a satisfaction of mortgage from Bank of America who realized their position was completely underwater and therefore worthless.

Excerpt of Actual Cash For Keys Agreement

After the second mortgage was satisfied we again reached out the Nationstar but were unable to obtain a waiver of deficiency.  With the case heading to trial, I changed our plan.  We are going to take this case to trial and beat you, is what I told Nationstar’s counsel.  Our firm had won other cases against Nationstar’s counsel based on problems with notices of default sent by a prior servicer.  Nationstar’s counsel knew that they had a real possibility of losing and requested the judge to refer the parties to mediation.  Prior to mediation a settlement was reached.  Since the settlement did not have a confidentiality agreement I can tell you about it.  Nationstar agreed to waive the deficiency and pay our client $20,000.00 cash for keys a new cash for keys record for our firm.   Great results like this one do not happen by accident.  Great results happen when banks know that a homeowner has retained one of the small fraction of foreclosure defense lawyers who regularly take cases to trial.   To see the entire cash for keys agreement in redacted form click here.