Case involving alleged foreclosure fraud headed to Florida Supreme Court

A South Florida homeowner who is fighting a mortgage foreclosure could end up reshaping state law.


An appeals court on Wednesday asked the Florida Supreme Court to consider Roman Pino’s case as a matter of “great public importance,” a move legal experts say could result in reforms in foreclosure cases where there is evidence of fraud in the way documents were handled by lenders, mortgage servicers and law firms.

The decision by the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach to send the case to the state Supreme Court was unusual, because neither the homeowner nor the bank seeking to foreclose on Pino’s home had asked for such a review.

“We conclude that this is a question of great public importance, as many, many mortgage foreclosures appear tainted with suspect documents,” the appeals court wrote.

If the case is taken up by the Supreme Court and results in a decision in favor of the homeowner, legal experts who specialize in foreclosure law say the case has the potential to affect thousands of foreclosures across the state where there are allegations of document fraud.

“There is this huge problem that is evident across the state. The District Court of Appeal is handing this up to the Supreme Court because of the importance of this bigger problem,” said South Florida attorney Margery Golant, who works with The Florida Bar to educate attorneys about proper document handling in foreclosure cases.

You can check out the rest of the report here…
 
Here are the court documents on the case. Click here.

Update: Florida Supreme Court to take up the Pino vs. Bank of New York Mellon case

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