Mortgage lenders have been getting away with murder when it comes to filing foreclosure documents. Banks used to have credibility on their side in a foreclosure court case. If a homeowner defaulted on their mortgage, the bank could foreclose and present any documents to the court that they wanted to. Whatever they submitted was accepted at face value.

As the tidal wave of foreclosures grew with the economic downturn, judges were overwhelmed and many homeowners showed up to court -- or maybe didn't even show up -- without being represented by an attorney. The banks put their fraudulent robo-signed foreclosure documentation machine into overdrive.

As the robo-signing scandal mounted, judges caught on to what the banks were perpetrating. Now many Florida judges are lashing out against the banks and their lawyers for committing fraud against the court. Some judges are dismissing cases and allowing homeowners to keep their homes free and clear of mortgage debt because of the banks' actions.

Closer scrutiny by the FBI, the Florida attorney general, the Florida Bar, the media and Fort Lauderdale foreclosure defense attorneys has uncovered example after example of forged signatures, post-dated documents, robo-signing and lost paperwork. The bad documentation from the foreclosing banks has become more the rule than the exception.

At the end of February, 322,724 foreclosure cases were pending in Florida courts.

The following are some examples of what the foreclosing banks and their lawyers are hearing from Florida courts:

"I don't have any confidence that any of the documents the court's receiving on these mass foreclosures are valid."

"...[T]he really interesting thing to me as a judge is in no other species or kind of law would that be remotely acceptable, or, frankly, anything short of malpractice. But somehow in Foreclosure World everybody thinks that that's just fine, that you all can know absolutely nothing about your files and walk in here and ask judges for things left and right without even knowing what's going on."

"This level of practice is shoddy. It is grossly negligent. It is worthy of a judge looking at, and saying, what is going on here? How dare you file something like this."

Source: Palm Beach Post "Foreclosure crisis: Fed-up judges crack down on disorder in the courts" 4/4/2011