Foreclosure Win Results in $17,500.00 Attorney Fee Recovery

When the Foreclosure mill law firm David Stern, P.A. collapsed many lawyers who defend foreclosures were content to sit on their hands and wait six months to a year for the banks suing their clients to send the files to other law firms.  Of course Shuster & Saben is NOT  like most firms that defend foreclosures.  Firm attorney Richard Shuster saw the collapse of David Stern as an opportunity to cut off  the head of a sleeping snake.

After the Stern firm failed to respond to requests for admission served by Shuster on behalf of a foreclosure defense client, Shuster filed a motion for summary judgment in favor of the homeowner.  The Stern firm did not withdraw form the case and Wells Fargo did not assign the case to new counsel.  Shuster then set a hearing on the motion for summary judgment. 

Despite their receipt of the notice of hearing, David Stern did not have an attorney present at the hearing.  When the judge called the firm to allow them to attend the hearing by phone the lawyer who the receptionist directed the Judges call to did not take the Court’s call. Since Wells Fargo's lawyers ( David Sern, P.A.) failed to respond to requests for admission that Wells Fargo did not own the note and a request for admission that Wells Fargo did not hold the note summary judgment and final judgment were entered in favor of the homeowner.  After the win the foreclosure defense attorney Richard Shuster filed a motion for attorney’s fees. 

Shuster was concerned if the firm immediately sought to collect attorney’s fees Wells Fargo might move for relief from the judgment arguing that they accidentally failed to send the file to new counsel.  As such Shuster waited one year from the date of judgment so that the time for Wells Fargo to seek relief form judgment ( 1 year under the rule) expired.  Once the time for Wells Fargo to seek relief from judgment expired the firm went forward with its motion for attorney’s fees.  Wells Fargo’s new lawyers, Aldridge Conners argued that the homeowner should not be entitled to attorney’s fees.  This argument was rejected by the Court which found for the Defendant on attorney fee entitlement.  The day before the hearing on the amount of attorney’s fees Wells Fargo and their new counsel agreed to pay $17,500.00 to resolve the attorney fee claim. Our client not only won their case  ( a final judgment win not a mere dismissal ) get money back from the fees recovered from Wells Fargo. 

The Robin Hood Law Firm

One of the coolest things we get to do as a foreclosure defense lawyers is write checks to clients.  Most clients hire our firm under an arrangement in which they pay us a flat fee each month for the first hour we work on the case and any additional hours are worked on a pure contingency basis.  Under such an arrangement if we want to get paid for the rest of our time we need to win the case and recover attorney’s fees from the bank.  When we get foreclosure cases dismissed or win cases on summary judgment or at trial, we go after the banks and servicers to get paid for the rest of our time and to obtain reimbursement for our clients for the attorney's fees they previously paid. 

Redacted check issued to client after firm obtained dismissal of Wells Fargo's foreclosure case and obtained a judgment against the bank for attorney's fees.

If you scroll though our blog you will find quite a few attorney fee judgments that order banks and loan servicers to pay attorney’s fees to our firm.   One of our clients asked why we put fee judgments and fee checks up on our blog.  The reason is to let homeowners know that that some of the time homeowners win and that when they go shopping for a lawyer what law firm they choose makes a difference.  Some lawyers who represent homeowners confuse foreclosure delay with foreclosure defense.  To us foreclosure defense means fighting foreclosure cases with a goal of winning a significant portion of our cases and finding solutions through settlement, loan modification, short sale or deed in lieu for the rest of the cases when possible.  Our sophisticated clients want more than knee-jerk, cookie-cutter, stall tactics.  We evaluate our clients' cases with an big picture view that considers asset protection and tax consequences. 

When we win cases and recover fees from the bank our fee judgments are usually sufficient to return to the client a substantial portion for the fees the client previously paid.  This past week, I got to write a check for $2,651.00 to a foreclosure defense client of our Melbourne office.  We obtained a dismissal without prejudice of the client’s case after Wells Fargo’s lawyers failed to timely comply with a Court order.  For the past five months there has been no pending foreclosure case against our client ( the bank has not re-filed), our client has made no mortgage payments, and he has had no legal expenses.  Now the client has received a check to reimburse him for more than half of his prior legal expenses.

To see a redacted copy of the check to our client full size in a separate window click the link below:
Redacted Check 

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 Defeats Wells Fargo & Florida Default Law Group

One of the greatest thrills for a foreclosure defense attorney is to call their client from the courthouse parking lot and tell them the judge has thrown out the bank's case and that the bank’s lawsuit is now over. Firm attorney Richard Shuster, got such a thrill after his first Court appearance of the new year on Thursday, January 5, 2012.

Shuster was in Court in Brevard County, Florida on a motion to dismiss filed on behalf of a Space Coast foreclosure client. Unlike attorney Shuster, who appeared in person at the hearing, the attorney for Wells Fargo, an associate of the Florida Default Law Group, appeared at the hearing by phone. The issue addressed at the hearing was whether Wells Fargo’s foreclosure complaint was properly verified as required by Florida Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 1.110(b). Our position was that verification must be part of the complaint and cannot be made on a separate piece of paper. Wells Fargo argued that their separate verification pleading satisfied the requirements of the rule. Mr. Shuster was one of the first lawyers in Florida to “make new law” on this issue in the case PNC v. Peckham which appeared in the Florida Law Weekly Supplement in January of 2011. The Court agreed with our arguments and entered an order granting the motion to dismiss without leave to amend.

This lawsuit against our client is now over. The firm has already served a motion for attorney’s fees against Wells Fargo and will look forward to recovering attorney’s fees from Wells Fargo to reimburse legal expenses incurred by our client.

The client was overjoyed to know that there is no longer a case pending against him, that next month he will have no legal expenses, and that our efforts will now turn to recovering money from the bank to pay his legal expenses. To review the actual order in Adobe Acrobat / PDF format click the link below:

Redacted Order of Dismissal

About Shuster & Saben: Shuster & Saben, LLC is not like other foreclosure defense firms. We do not file motions to dismiss as a stall tactic. We file motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment to win foreclosure cases. We believe that a good foreclosure defense attorney builds and arms torpedoes and puts them in the water with the goal of sinking the lender’s case. Going on offense takes more work. Winning foreclosure cases requires going to Court, usually several times. This costs us more to do in terms of time, energy and resources and what we change reflects this. We are certainly NOT the cheapest foreclosure firm to hire but we strive to deliver superior results at a price that is clear, fair, predictable and an excellent value. To speak with an attorney to see if the foreclosure cases against you have a weakness or vulnerability that we can exploit please E-mail foreclosuredefenselaw@gmail.com.