Richard Shuster beats Douglas Zahm, P.A., SunTrust and Seterus at Trial.

Firm attorney Richard Shuster won another trial against Douglas Zahm, P.A., a firm widely regarded as one of the toughest firms that represents banks and loan servicers in Florida foreclosure cases.  The trial was conducted in Brevard County, Florida.  This foreclosure case was originally filed by SunTrust but after two years of litigation Seterus replaced SunTrust as the servicer.  The Zahm firm knew that our firm was not one to surrender.  Since our firm beat the Zahm firm in another trial in late 2014, they took an additional precaution of bringing two witnesses to trial, one from the new servicer Seterus (who traveled from Oregon) and another witness from SunTrust.

Firm attorney Richard Shuster

Our firm won the case on two separate issues:  First because the original note had an endorsement that was not contained on the copy of the note attached to the complaint the Court sustained our objection to the original note being admitted into evidence.  The Court also agreed that the notice of default sent by SunTrust was legally inadequate and did not comply with paragraph 22 of the mortgage.  After the Plaintiff put on their case at trial and rested, firm attorney Shuster moved for involuntary dismissal, which the Court granted. 

Our clients in this matter are a Space Coast family with school age kids that suffered the loss of a good job due to disability.   Our client’s household income after the job loss, is less than half the amount necessary to qualify for loan modification.  Had our firm lost the trial our clients were at risk of being homeless.  As with every trial, our firm was All In.  We conducted extensive discovery, deposed the corporate representative who testified at trial, and searched high and low to find weaknesses in the bank’s case.  The night before the trial, our client got an E-mail, just a few minutes before midnight to let him know his lawyer was finally going home and was ready.  Thankfully our efforts paid off.

Firm Obtains $12,695.00 Judgment against Wells Fargo

 

After winning yet another foreclosure action against Wells Fargo and their counsel, Florida Default Law Group, foreclosure defense attorney Richard Shuster has obtained a judgment for attorney’s fees and costs in the amount of $12,695.00.  Homeowners should understand that hiring foreclosure attorneys who actually win cases as opposed to merely trying to slow a bank’s case down makes good financial sense.  In a foreclosure case, when the bank or loan servicer loses the case the bank has to pay the homeowner’s attorney’s fees.  Money from the judgment against Wells Fargo will reimburse legal expenses previously paid by the firm’s client. 

Fighting cases to win, rather than to lose slowly requires more time and effort on the attorney’s part.  Hiring a firm that attempts to win cases might cost a little more in the beginning but in cases where the homeowner wins their case and recovers fees from the bank and in many cases settled under favorable terms the investment in a sophisticated foreclosure defense pays off for the homeowner. 

To review a redacted copy of the final judgment for attorney’s fees please click the link below.

Redacted Judgment Link

About Shuster & Saben:  Shuster and Saben, LLC knows the difference between real foreclosure defense and knee jerk stalling.  Savvy homeowners in foreclosure who want more than a cookie cutter foreclosure delay can consult with one of our attorney’s for free.  Since we regularly go to court on our client’s cases, we don’t take cases in Tampa or the Panhandle that are beyond the reach of our firms offices.  We do accept cases from Miami to Jacksonville on the east coast and in Orange, Seminole, Collier and Lee counties.  We know who the top foreclosure lawyers are in parts of the state where we do not practice and gladly make referrals.  Thanks for reading our blog.  We would love to put your case in a future post.   

Shuster & Saben Sues Heritage Pacific Financial, LLC

 

When a Satellite Beach resident hired Shuster & Saben to defend the foreclosure case filed by Deutsche Bank (as Trustee) against his home, firm attorney Richard Shuster wrote both the servicer for the client’s first mortgage and Heritage Pacific the servicer of  the client’s second mortgage.  The firm wrote both servicers so that calls and letters from both servicers to the client would stop.

The firm’s letter to Heritage Pacific told Heritage point blank and in bold type “All future contact relative to this debt must take place solely through this office.  Please cease and desist all communications with our clients.”

Shuster even said “Please” but only once.  When Heritage wrote our client nearly one year later to offer a lump sum payment “option” to make single payment of $93,446.98 when our clients balance was on $93,446.98 ( a whopping discount of 0% ), the firm did not repeat their warning.   The firm filed suit against Heritage for both the illegal contact with a person they knew was represented by counsel , a violation of the FCCPA,  (Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act) and Heritage’s failure to properly respond to a Qualified Written Request, a violation of RESPA,  (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act).  Now this Texas loan servicer will have to hire a lawyer to defend a Brevard case where the homeowner is the Plaintiff.   

To see a redacted copy of the lawsuit filed against Heritage Pacific please click the link below:

Redacted Lawsuit  

About Shuster & Saben:  Shuster & Saben loves to sue banks.  See our older blog posts about cases where we sued banks and won.  Shuster & Saben has a zero tolerance policy for lenders and loan servicers who call our clients.  The firm handles FCCPA, FDCPA, and RESPA claims against banks on a pure contingency basis.  The firm accepts referrals from other foreclosure lawyers whose clients are called by banks.  We believe that when a consumer hires a lawyer they should enjoy peace and quiet that is not interrupted by collections calls from banks. Speak softly and carry a big stick.