Why? Written by Sherry Hernandez
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Written by Sherry Hernandez
Date: 07/23/11
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I sat in the lawyer’s office in the chair across from his massive desk as he asked me the question I have been asked so many times before. “Are you behind on your mortgage payment now?”
“Yes.”
He raised a disapproving eyebrow as he looked down at the papers on his desk and shuffled them around.
I’m used to this response. People who didn’t buy a home during these years don’t understand. We have purchased several homes over the years and we still have trouble understanding how this could happen. This goes against everything we have been raised to believe about business and our country.
So how did WE get behind on our mortgage? It is a legitimate question and there are as many stories as there are people. In the past these stories had been about lost jobs and poor planning, but today most of the stories involve some dishonest on behalf of the banks and because banks have established a reputation over the years of operating in integrity, people have a hard time believing that they are capable of this degree of duplicity.
“You signed the 50 page mortgage contract, no one forced you.”
The contract was 375 pages, presented to us at 7 pm 3 days before the closing of the loan. There were no brokers, real estate agents, or escrow officer present, only a notary. We had a reasonable expectation that the loan we were signing was the same one we had spent a month discussing on the telephone with the loan company. We had a reasonable expectation that banks and lending institutions were not in business to cheat us, we understood that they were in business to make money for themselves, but not by deceit, not by a bait and switch method. They used their position of integrity to lure in the established public trust and then switch their methods and responsibilities and lay them back into the laps of their customers.
In retrospect, we feel guilty, we should have all gone to law school and taken real estate classes before buying our home, but it wasn’t our first home, we had done this before. My husband and I both worked, my husband worked at the Los Angeles Harbor, I worked as a designer. We worked hard. We worked long hours. We didn’t have the time for real estate school, also. We had to be able to trust the professionals.
I have posted before how our loan was baited and switched. I posted about the three year prepayment penalty that was supposed to be changed to one year, but was later not honored. One month after the loan was secured Countrywide raised the interest on our 1st from 7.4 to 8.5% and on the 2nd from 7.5 to 13%. This increased our monthly principle and interest payment by over $600. The mortgage company had told us we didn’t qualify for a 30 year fixed at 7.5%, yet after they set the standards, they raised us to 8.5% on the option ARM that was supposedly a better loan. It didn’t make sense.
Nevertheless, we took responsibility and set out to obtain another loan as soon as our year was up. The full story can be read on our other post. Because of the prepayment penalty we DID NOT agree to, and because of the loan-to-value ratio, we had to pay out an additional $75,000 in fees and penalties to get a new loan, which we did. We had already lost the $85,000 downpayment we had invested in our new home.
We knew the new loan was only temporary, because we needed something quickly to get out from under the 8.5% and 13% interest rates. Our intention was to pay off the 2nd and roll everything over into the 1st, but this was not to be either; because Countrywide had sold our 1st to Wells Fargo and could not get it back in time to combine the loans.
We got the new loan through Best Rate Financial, who sold it to CitiMortgage.
Countrywide profited from their little “error” on our behalf and we paid for their “error”, but that is what a court of law is for. We filed a lawsuit against them in hopes of retrieving the money they had stolen from us. That was over four years ago, we have still not seen the inside of the courtroom.
So…why is our mortgage payment behind? That is the initial question, the question those who do not know always ask. Why?
The money we had set aside to pay off the 2nd mortgage we used to sustain us and pay our legal fees while we waited to go to court. My husband continued to work long hard hours and we continued to make our payments. Life happens along the way, my husband had to have surgery, our children lost their jobs and moved back home until they could get on their feet again. Nonetheless, we continued to pay on time.
In December of 2009, CitiMortgage called us and asked us if we would benefit from a modification. We knew it was a matter of time before our financial drain would catch up to us. Properties values had dropped over $150,000, and we could not sell. We had already been waiting for our day in court for over 2 years, so hope of recouping our losses were a distant possibility.
So we agreed to participate in the modification program and we hired a law firm to supervise the process.
We had already heard the horror stories about others who had been deceived in the modification process and we wanted guidance along the way. We had learned from our past mistake and we did not want them coming back to us and telling us that we agreed to something we did not agree to. We did not want them telling us that they lost our paperwork, or that we did not qualify because of something we had no knowledge of, so we hired American Law Firm to be our modification counselors at a cost of $2,500.
Our trial date of March 3, 2010 had been moved. Bank of America was supposed to have settled with us, but cheated us again on our settlement agreement. Fortunately, we had not yet signed the papers…this time we took the time to read them first! So our trial date was reset for December 6th, 2010.
Our house payments were still being paid on time.
In April of 2010, in a 3-way conversation with CitiMortgage and American Law Firm and myself, they informed us that we initially qualified and that our modification should be completed in about 30-60 days. They knew all of our financial information and they knew that our savings was running out. We were very candid and honest about our situation. We were, at last, hopeful that we would be able to save our home before it became a problem.
By August of 2010, we still did not have the modification. We knew our finances were bending under the strain and we still had pending attorneys fee. We had already paid $30,000 to our attorney to get us to court and we still had additional court costs pending. The implications were clear, as long as we made our payments on time they had no motivation to modify. And for us, if we continued to make our payments on time, we might not have the money needed to make it to court. In September we called and notified them that we could not make our payment and inquired once again about the modification. They told us it was pending and should be authorized any day now.
The banks and the lending firms have held us to our contracts and agreements to the full extent of the law, while they, in turn continue to move the bar and shift the lines on their own adherence to the laws. They can give their word and take it back at random, yet we, the consumer, are held to these vague contracts and agreements like a bulldog to a bone. The message is clear…only those who have no clout are subject to the law.
Copied from the article: http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=190415
States Knob Banksters – Again
IN THE COMMENTS SECTION:
FROM ONE READER: Immunity from civil lawsuits is bad enough, but this.
State and federal officials declined to say if any form of immunity from criminal prosecution also is under discussion.
..blows me away! That should be an emphatic ‘no’ if you want to maintain faith in the rule of law. Did I miss a stealth law that gives certain classes a ‘get of jail free.
Pass Go. Collect 2 billion dollars’ card?
ANOTHER READER WROTE: I’ve already reached that point. The only restraint on me is getting caught and going to prison. I have no moral incentive to follow laws that only apply to me to enslave me but don’t apply to billionaires or corporations.
Laws that are not about basic decency such as killing your neighbor, but laws to enrich others by regulating my every detailed action and blocking me from conducting business to sustain myself and my family
I think they have no idea how much civil order is voluntary. When people only follows the law under strict enforcement they will find out they can never hire enough cops or judges.
So the question on the table is “Why are you behind on your mortgage payments?” When what the question should be is “Why are these bankster allowed to get away with breaking the laws?” or “Why don’t the banks have to keep their word?”
In October 2010, CitiMortgage informed us they were missing a paystub from my husband’s paystubs in August. We faxed it to them, again, and tried to verify their receipt, but apparently it takes them about a week to register the transmissions. In November 2010, they assured us they were just days away from an answer regarding our modification. We told them of our pending trail date and that we would be late with December’s payment.
In December 2010 our attorney informed us that our trial date had been vacated due to a heavy court calendar. We later learned that our attorney had run out on us after we had paid him $36,000 to take B of A to court. CitiMortgage told us that they would have an answer for us on the 1st of January regarding our modification.
On January 17th CitiMortgage sent us two letters informing us that we did not qualify for a modification. At this point, we felt there was no point in paying our mortgage since it was obvious they were not willing to work with us. Then on January 28th they sent us a letter telling us that they were going to give us a temporary 3-month modification while they reviewed our case again! Halleluiah! We were saved! We immediately sent in the 1st modification payment as laid out in their letter.
Yes, we had been late on our payment, but now we could pay on time with a clear conscience. We had hope again. Everything was going to work out.
We did not yet know the attorney had run out on us, we did not yet know that Citimortgage was lying.
“Why are you not paying your mortgage?” “Do you think that it’s fair that you don’t pay?”
They ask us this while the news is inundated with documentation of fraud and excess spending on behalf of the corporations. They ask us this with allegations of bribery and corruption flooding the news.
We paid our modification payments on time for two months. We didn’t stop paying because we wanted to, we stopped paying because CitiMortgage sold our loan (for pennies on the dollar) to PennyMac before the three months was up. After our 2nd payment we received a letter from CitiMortgage informing us that our loan had been sold to PennyMac. We were to make no more payments to CitiMortgage and to wait until we heard from PennyMac.
When PennyMac contacted us, they informed us that they were not going to honor the temporary modification issued to us by CitiMortgage, nor did they count the temporary modification payments as “payments”. They informed us that we were now 6 months in arrears on our mortgage.
The trap snapped shut on our hope.
We cannot “catch up” to their bookkeeping and to even try would only be sending good money after bad.
This is why we, and so many other honest hardworking Americans are behind in their mortgages. We have been duped by Mortgage companies that consider us ,“securities,” and not people, just as the slaveholders of old considered their slaves livestock and not human beings.
Countless numbers of Americans have lost their homes, not because of unemployment and drops in property value, but because of the fraud and deceit that the banks are still allowed to perpetuate on the public.
These corporations have not JUST robbed us of our homes, but they have robbed us of our credit rating, our ability to move freely within the public market to conduct business and support our families.
And they are allowed to get away with it.
I watched a recent episode of Bill Maher where he talked about the willingness of the American soldiers to sacrifice their lives for the freedom of the American people, but Wallstreet is not willing to sacrifice their tax cuts for the good of the American people. They are, however, willing to sacrifice us.
2 Comments
After months of deliberation, Bank of America authorized a short sale of our home in Indiana. We closed the mortgage of 7502 Prairie Lake Dr. Indianapolis, Indiana 46256 on January 6, 2010. In April 2010 my wife (Chris) and I started noticing our credit cards were being canceled, our once high credit limits reduced and other peculiar alterations being made to our credit accounts. We reviewed our credit reports through the website http://www.annualcreditreport.com. My wife’s credit report reflected a serious derogatory, reported by BAC/Countrywide Mortgage. I sent letters of dispute to each credit reporting agency (Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax) including our closing documents to show we did not owe the debt reported and to have the credit reporting agencies investigate them. In the meantime on April 26, 2010 my wife and I received a letter of suit from Toae A. Kim of the Feiwell & Hannoy, P.C. Attorneys at Law group, dated April 22, 2010. I immediately called the phone number attached to the letters; I was greeted by an automated recording requesting personal information such as social security numbers and so on. I left a detailed message including the loan # and file # stating we had closed this loan on January 6, 2010. I also requested someone from their office contact me by telephone within the next 24 hours. Within minutes of leaving the message, I began researching the internet for other means to contact Feiwell & Hannoy P.C. Attorneys at Law. Feiwell and Hannoy P.C made it very difficult to make contact with them. The only contact portal I could find to Feiwell & Hannoy P.C. was through a website called Lawyers.com. I emailed a letter with my contact information demanding someone from Feiwell & Hannoy’s office give me a courtesy call within 24 hours. Feiwell and Hannoy P.C. have never responded to our requests. On April 27, 2010 I contacted, Lynn Geiss our realtor from REMAX who represented us through the short sale of our home. I explained our problem and in turn questioned her on whether or not she knew if the closing on 1-6-2010 had been funded. Lynn said she would get with Holly Catt from the closing company (Chicago Title) to verify whether or not the funds were wire transferred and received; in the meantime she suggested I speak to an attorney and referred me to her personal attorney, Chris Jackson. After a brief conversation with Chris Jackson on 4-27-2010, she advised me to try and contact the short sale closing department of Bank of America. On 4-27-2010 I sent an email to Stephanie Rye and Andrea Wilkes within the short sale closing department of Bank of America. I attached documents supporting the fact the loan was closed several months prior. I also gave each of them my contact information and a deadline to respond. I have never heard from anyone within Bank of America’s short sale closing department. To our disbelief, a few days later my wife and I received a summons of foreclosure lawsuit (49D14 10 04 MF 018380 Filed on 4-22-2010). We were appalled and shocked by the method of injustice that was taking place. We could not get anyone to listen to us or help us. I spent several days trying to find an ear willing to listen and stop this wrongful suit. It was as if we were invisible to Bank of America, their counter parts, and associates. In the first week of May 2010 we received a response from Experian regarding the initial dispute letter I sent April 19, 2010. The response letter was dated April 30, 2010. We were shocked to read the credit reporting agency (Experian) said they had investigated our dispute and found the credit grantor verified the information and they (Experian) will not investigate our dispute again. Keep in mind Experian spent but only a few days investigating this dispute and deemed it investigated thoroughly. Days had slipped by with no contact from anyone related to the wrongful foreclosure suit filed by Feiwell and Hannoy P.C. I discussed our dilemma with our realtor and our realtor’s attorney on numerous occasions searching for answers. They felt we should be able to resolve and correct this wrongful lawsuit ourselves. We finally realized we needed to try a different approach in order to get someone’s attention just to listen to us and help stop the wrongful lawsuit that was filed against us. During the month of May 2010 I sent complaint letters to as many public servants as possible including, Florida’s Governor, State Representatives, Indiana Governor, Indiana Attorney General, Federal Trade Commission, The OCC, the Attorney General’s office and others. We were unsure where we needed to go for support or help in this matter. I started placing calls to the corporate offices of Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina. Finally on 5/10/2010, after making several calls; I was able to speak with a David Tidwell in the Executive Customer Relations department. He was courteous and attentive while assuring me he would dig into it right away. I explained to Mr. Tidwell, how we are on the brink of financial ruins because of this mistake, not including our mental stress, fatigue, embarrassment, and the continuing loss of financial stability. Within the same day David Tidwell called me back and said I was 100% correct, and there shouldn’t have been a foreclosure suit filed, and the mortgage had been satisfied months ago. He said they would immediately remove it from our credit report and stop the law suit. Mr. Tidwell advised us to get legal counsel, but in the meantime he would ensure the mistake would be corrected. The mistake remained unresolved and the credit reporting agencies continued reporting it as a mortgage debt seriously late and in foreclosure. On 5-19-2020 I located a fax number for The Feiwell and Hannoy attorney group and sent them a request for Validation. I also composed and sent a certified letter to Brian T. Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, On May 19, 2010 explaining in detail our dilemma. Our letter was accepted By Bank of America on 5-21-2010. On 5-24-2010 we received and signed for a certified package from Marion County Clerk W-122 City County Building 200 E. Washington St. Indianapolis, Indiana. Enclosed in the package was an Alias Summons, filed on 5-19-2010, from the same collection attorneys, Feiwell and Hannoy P.C. Attorney at Law, continuing on their path of a law Suit. Upon receiving the Alias Summons I put a call into Mr. Tidwell from Bank of America. After explaining the package we received, he responded by saying: this should have been cleared up and he would check into it. I told him I expected and needed him to send documentation declaring this issue resolved. Mr. Tidwell said he would send us what we needed in order to get this mistake resolved. Mr. Tidwell did not send us documentation as requested instead, the lawsuit remained intact and the credit reporting agencies still reporting false information. In the meantime we received responses back from several of the Public servants we sent letters to during May 2010. All of the responses suggested we seek legal counsel, but in the interim they would investigate our complaint further. In the first week of June 2010 we were referred and guided to Indiana Consumer Law Group/The Law Offices of Robert E. Duff. On June-9-2010 we retained Robert Duff to represent us in our pursuit to stop the wrongful foreclosure law suit against us. Mr. Duff determined we had legitimate complaints against several parties and had us sign three separate Attorney representation and contingency fee agreements, spelling out the legal services he would provide for us. 1. Representation for violations of the FCRA by Equifax, Trans Union and Experian Credit reporting agencies. 2. Representation for violations of the FDCP by Feiwell and Hannoy P.C. Collection Agency. 3. Representation for violations of the FDCP, FCRA, by Bank of America (BAC). We bundled all of the information and documents related to the cases and sent them to Mr. Duff. As time progressed into late June 2010, we were informed through other sources than Mr. Duff that Bank of America had back dated and revised my wife’s credit report to reflect the BAC account paid, but still seriously late on payments for several months. I continued to keep Mr. Duff updated by faxing him information, such as updated credit reports, responses from letters I previously sent, and so on. After several weeks of not hearing from Mr. Duff or seeing anything being done on our case we became quite concerned. We realized Mr. Duff was not performing as we perceived. I asked Mr. Duff to respond to phone calls I was receiving from David Grossman, a Customer Advocate in the Office of the CEO and President of Bank of America. These requests went on for days and days. After finally reaching Mr. Duff, he explained he had medical issues and was unable to perform as we needed. Mr. Duff did not fulfill his duties as laid out in the Attorney representation and contingency fee agreements we signed. We felt we had no other choice, but seek new legal representation.
In early August 2010 we began searching the internet and yellow pages for a Law Firm capable of meeting our legal needs; our goal was to find a law firm willing to represent us in all of our legal matters associated with the wrongful foreclosure case. We interviewed several law firms before I interviewed the Phillips and Garcia law firm. On or about August 10, 2010 I interviewed Carlin Phillips of the Phillips and Garcia Law Firm. I explained our needs for a Law firm and informed Mr. Phillips I was interviewing other Law Firms as well. Mr. Phillips explained in detail what he could and would do for us if we decided to hire the Phillips and Garcia Law Firm. Mr. Phillips explained his firm’s fee structure, while leading us to believe his firm was more than capable of handling all of our legal needs. We based our decision to hire Phillips and Garcia Law Firm on several key factors. Below you will find several key factors associated with documents to substantiate what Phillips and Garcia Law Firm led us to believe.
We were led to believe via their web site, they were a large specialty Law Firm specializing in wrongful foreclosure law and consumer law. Mr. Phillips suggested we visit their associated web site (http://www.southcoastaccidentattorney.com/) in order to get a better understanding of Phillips and Garcia Law Firm capabilities and functions. After inspecting their web site we were impressed, and at the time felt their Law Firm was indeed a good match for our legal needs. My wife and I assumed we found a Law Firm large and specialized enough to go up against one of the largest banks in the world, Credit Bureaus, and The Feiwell and Hannoy Law Firm. We were led to believe Phillips and Garcia Law Firm had expert staff members eager to seek justice for us. Several weeks after hiring Phillips and Garcia Law Firm we were told we would have to hire our prior attorney in Indiana, in order to have sponsorship in Indiana Federal Court. We questioned the ethics in such a move and were told he was the best candidate because of his firsthand knowledge of the case. Mr. Phillips told us he had a Co-counsel with staff members as well. His name was Joseph DeMello. Later into the relationship we discovered Phillips and Garcia Law Firm was a very small Law Firm, virtually ran by one person, and Mr. DeMello was an Attorney working on his own and not even within the offices of Phillips and Garcia Law Firm. We were led to believe Mr. Phillips had a Partner and staff members. We’ve never been introduced to the Garcia side of the Law Firm. We are not even sure there is a Garcia in the Law Firm because we have never heard from him. We were deceived into thinking Phillips and Garcia Law Firm was a rather large law firm willing and capable of taking on one of the largest banks in the world. Had we’d known the truth about the size and stature of Phillips and Garcia Law Firm we would have seriously considered another Law Firm.
We were led to believe Phillips and Garcia law firm was financially secure enough to handle our affairs. During the interviewing process I asked Mr. Phillips about their financial stability and Mr. Phillips said they were financially sound. He said they would handle all expenses needed to bring the cases in, and we did not have to worry about upfront cost as we did with our prior attorney. As time passed we began noticing suits were not being filed in a timely fashion and the cases were not being given the attention they truly deserved. We asked Mr. Phillips and Mr. DeMello about our cases on several different occasions. We were brushed off and given incorrect information each time. We became highly suspicious after being harassed, bullied and threatened, stating we would have to pay for costs associated to the case if we did not adhere to what the defense counsel demanded. We then discovered that Phillips and Garcia Law firm was not as financially secure as Mr. Phillips led us to believe. Had we not been deceived from the onset of our attorney client relationship, our cases would hold more merit and value.
We were told we would have media coverage regarding our cases. During our initial interview Mr. Phillips specifically talked about extensive media coverage he would afford us if we chose Phillips and Garcia Law Firm to represent us. He said he had media contacts in Florida who would love to air our story. He explained how our story would constitute leverage in our case as did other wrongful foreclosure cases he represented. Mr. Phillips told us he wanted to control the media coverage and make sure we were not misrepresented or misquoted. His web site even promotes press and media coverage. We spent months upon months asking and pleading with Phillips and Garcia Law Firm to have our story heard by the media as promised. We were ultimately told that Media coverage was not the issue in the litigation and we were not going to receive media coverage. We were told our case was not media worthy and the Defense counsel was not concerned about the media, although every indication from the defense counsel suggested otherwise. We were again duped into thinking we would receive something viable to our cases; instead we were out and out lied to. One of our greatest deciding factors was due to the assurance Mr. Phillips gave us regarding media coverage. He said over and over how the media would add leverage and how invaluable it would be. He also said media coverage would go a long way in settling our case quicker. If we had known Phillips and Garcia Law Firm had no intentions of providing us media coverage as he promised we would have decided on a different Law Firm all together.
We were lured into Phillips and Garcia Law Firm based on lies. We were led to believe Phillips and Garcia Law Firm would file suits on all aspects of our cases, specifically all three Credit Bureaus (credit reporting agencies), Feiwell & Hannoy P.C., and BofA. During our initial interviewing process Mr. Phillips told us, Phillips and Garcia Law Firm would file suit on and litigate all three credit reporting agencies (Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax) for reporting false information. He further explained how Phillips and Garcia Law Firm were equipped to handle all of our cases under one roof, and how convenient it would be for us. Mr. Phillips explained how all of the cases tied into the initial wrongful foreclosure and the cases should be litigated separately/ together anyway. Upon Phillips and Garcia Law Firm hiring our prior attorney Robert Duff, Mr. Phillips stated how Mr. Duff’s skill set would be better qualified to handle the credits reporting agency complaints we had. After months of continuously asking Phillips and Garcia about the litigation process of the credit reporting agencies, we were told Phillips and Garcia Law Firm did not intend on filing suit on the 3 credit reporting agencies and it was beyond what they were hired to do. We based our decision to allow Phillips and Garcia Law Firm to represent us because Mr. Phillips said they could and would handle all of our cases under one roof. We were very adamant about having one Law Firm represent all of our legal affairs. Had we known Phillips and Garcia Law Firm had no intentions of following through with what Mr. Phillips agreed to in our initial interview; we would have elected to not have Phillips and Garcia Law Firm represent us.
We were led to believe Phillips and Garcia would front all expenses and time associated to all of our cases. We anticipated and were prepared to pay attorney fees associated to our cases, but Mr. Phillips explained how the Phillip and Garcia’s contingency fee structure worked. He convinced us we would be better off by working from a contingency fee structure in the long run. He pointed out that Phillips and Garcia would be able to (defer) front all associated costs and we would not have any out of pocket expenses to endure, until the cases were either settled or a judgment made, further stating; If we don’t get you anything, we eat the expenses and the time put in. We ultimately made our decision based on Mr. Phillip’s guided mindset of not having to be financially burdened by up front attorney fees and costs, thus giving us added comfort in our legal journey ahead. As time progressed in our client attorney relationship we were told we would have to pay costs associated to the Bank of America cases. We were bullied, and threatened regarding the notion that if we did not cooperate we would be out of pocket for expenses while causing us severe financial harm.
We were led to believe we would have the right to accept or reject a settlement depending on a disbursement sheet. Upon our initial interview with Mr. Phillips we questioned our rights to accept or reject a settlement offer. Mr. Phillips answered our concerns by stating how Phillips and Garcia Law Firm would provide an itemized breakdown (disbursement sheet), stating how this will allow us to make an educated decision on a settlement offer and we would have the final say whether we accept or reject an offer based on the disbursement sheet. Mr. Phillips made us feel comfortable in knowing we had the right of refusal or acceptance and we virtually had the last say. We were not afforded the right to review a full disbursement sheet even after we requested it on several occasions. The itemized breakdown (disbursement sheet) Mr. Phillips said we would receive has not been sent to us as promised. The issue keeps getting avoided even after a settlement offer was discussed. A settlement offer was placed on the table for negotiation. Part of our demands stated all Attorney Fees were to be paid by Bank of America. Mr. Phillips relayed our terms incorrectly by telling the defense counsel we agreed to settle for $2500.00 more than we originally negotiated, while omitting our demands to have Bank of America pay all attorney fees. The Defense counsel assumed all attorney fees were to be paid by their own perspective parties, and wrote the settlement agreement accordingly. We assumed attorney fees were to be paid by Bank of America. Phillips and Garcia Law Firm did not present us with an itemized breakdown (disbursement sheet). Mr. Phillips told the unsuspecting courts the case was settled. We were told we had to sign the false settlement agreement or be sued.
We were led to believe we would be provided with all associated documents per each case on a timely basis. Within our initial interview with Mr. Phillips I shared with him one of our pet peeves with our prior attorney Mr. Duff. I explained how my wife and I were detail oriented record keepers and we expected to receive documentation within a timely manner. Mr. Phillips assured me how his code of professionalism required him to get documents to us within a timely fashion. Documents of dire importance were withheld from us on numerous occasions and for several months. After asking several times for copies of our files, we felt it necessary to demand our case related documents. When we explained to Mr. Phillips our intentions and needs for our case related files Mr. Phillips commented on how he never had a client so detail oriented and willing to investigate their own case files before. Phillips and Garcia Law Firm held files and documents for months without sharing or looking at them. We even had to ask Mr. Joseph DeMello if he was familiar with our cases on numerous occasions. Mr. DeMello used threats and bully tactics, while not having sufficient knowledge of what he was talking about. Mr. Phillips stated several times that he did not have the time to investigate the files (discovery files) related to our case, further commenting how he had tons of caseloads surrounding his couch at home. Mr. Phillips sounded genuinely surprised when we told him the defense files (discovery files) were mostly duplicated documents, while a small percentage of the documents in the files held significant keys to our case. We explained how we sorted through all of the unorganized documents and were able to find inconsistencies, only to be disbelieved. In all essence we assumed he only guessed what were in those files. We know beyond a shadow of doubt, if the files and documents had been opened and thoroughly investigated our case would have been settled long ago.
We were led to believe we would be kept up to date on all facets of our cases in a timely manner. Upon our initial interview with Mr. Phillips I discussed with him another pet peeve with our prior attorney Mr. Duff. I made it very clear we wanted to be updated and kept in the loop at least once a week, whether or not there was anything new to report or not. Mr. Phillips assured me he would keep a constant line of communication open with us. We constantly had to ask for updates, sometimes going for weeks at a time before we would get a response. On several occasions we were scheduled to have phone conferences, and to our dismay we were stood up. We would wait for days without contact from Phillips and Garcia Law Firm. We were kept in the dark regarding our cases for weeks and more at a time. When we questioned their tardiness we were made to feel as though we were not entitled to regular feedback, and even humiliated into apologizing for asking for updates. We asked Phillips and Garcia Law Firm to adhere to and respond to reasonable time constraints we placed on the defense counsel. We were told the time constraints were being honored all the way to the very end, only to find they were not. Had we known Phillips and Garcia Law Firm was not punctual in the line of communications we would have not hired them.
We were led to believe Phillips and Garcia would thoroughly investigate every aspect of our cases. One of the aspects Mr. Phillips offered was the ability to investigate the case load with the upmost knowledge. Mr. Phillips explained how his law firm specialized in wrongful foreclosure cases, consumer protection law, and several others. Mr. Phillips explained how they would thoroughly investigate all avenues of our cases in order to add more merit to our cases. Phillips and Garcia Law Firm did not investigate our files. Most of the time we had to refresh them on what our cases was about. Mr. Phillips made comments on how he had never seen any past client investigate their own files as we did. Co-Counsel Joseph Demello jumped into our caseload without having any in-depth knowledge of our case what so ever. On several occasions we had to ask if he even knew anything about our case. As time passed we realized Phillips and Garcia Law Firm were not staffed with paralegals or legal investigators whatsoever. As far as we can tell Phillips and Garcia Law Firm have no staff members at all, we have never had contact with anyone other than Carlin Phillips, Joseph DeMello, Robert Duff. Had we not been deceived into thinking Phillips and Garcia Law Firm were staffed with legal experts, we would have not chosen Phillips and Garcia Law Firm to represent us.
We were led to believe Phillips and Garcia would be in our corner and represent us accordingly. Mr. Phillips commented and explained how aggressive Phillips and Garcia Law Firm would be once they received the files from our prior attorney Mr. Duff. As time progressed during our relationship with Phillips and Garcia Law Firm, we noticed inconsistencies formulating within our cases. We asked several questions from time to time only to receive inadequate or no answers at all. We never saw any indication of offensive aggression from Phillips and Garcia Law Firm. We were always forced to adhere to what the defense counsel demanded. We questioned the roll of our attorney on numerous occasions. The roll of the aggressor never was never present from Phillips and Garcia Law Firm. We were continuously bullied by Phillips and Garcia Law Firm, especially Joseph Demello. The same attorneys we hired to protect and respect us. We’ve been treated as though we were guilty of a crime and had no rights at all, when in fact we were always the innocent party. We asked to have our questions answered, (legal or otherwise) on numerous occasions, only to receive no answer, or at best incomplete arrogant answers. We still have unanswered legal questions, and we suspect we will never have them answered by Phillips and Garcia Law Firm. At this point we feel we would have been better off by not having an attorney. We were led to believe we would be given expert legal advice in order to protect us as clients. We asked for true legal advice on numerous occasions. We now understand some of the advice we were given was incomplete and not altogether true. We were duped into thinking Phillips & Garcia Law Firm would give us true legal advice throughout the course of our Client – Attorney relationship. While in the middle of a settlement negotiation Phillips & Garcia Law Firm told us, and the defense counsel that Phillips & Garcia Law Firm and Robert Duff was withdrawing. On August 12, 2011 Carlin Phillips told the Magistrate assigned to our case that he would not represent us and from that point forward he would only act as a conduit for information purposes. The Magistrate agreed with him and mandated Our Attorney of Record would only act as a conduit. From that point forward we had no legal counsel as mandated by the Magistrate. We were not given adequate or proper notice of withdraw. We were left unprotected and totally in the dark as to what we were to do next. Mr. Phillips went as far as to say he would testify against us if we did not sign a false settlement contract the defense counsel had generated. For weeks Phillips & Garcia Law Firm and Robert Duff had refused to give us legal advice. We recently asked Phillips & Garcia Law Firm and Robert Duff; who is the Attorney of record? We have no legal notice of withdraw from Phillips & Garcia Law Firm, or Robert Duff. Had we known the deceitfulness of Phillips & Garcia Law Firm and Robert Duff we would have steered completely clear from them. We never asked to be treated in this manner; we only asked to be protected by wards of the justice system.
We were led to believe Phillips & Garcia Law Firm would be our primary Attorney of record. From the onset of the relationship between Phillips & Garcia Law Firm and us we assumed they were our primary attorney of record. We now find we had been deceived into thinking Phillips & Garcia Law Firm was handling all of our affairs. We now realize Phillips & Garcia Law Firm is not licensed in the state of Indiana. We were told Mr. Duff was brought in as sponsorship into the Federal court in Indiana. We were not afforded the opportunity to be represented by an Indiana licensed attorney. We were taken advantage of from the onset of our relationship with Phillips & Garcia Law Firm. Mr. Robert Duff has never stepped up to the plate to give us legal advice throughout our relationship with Phillips and Garcia Law Firm. We have asked him questions and he continues to stay silent, even though he is one of the attorneys of record. We have been taken unfair advantage of and the whole masquerade of Phillips and Garcia Law Firm has tainted our trust in the judicial system.
We were led to believe Phillips & Garcia Law Firm could represent us no matter what State we were from. The web site of Phillips & Garcia Law Firm indicates they will represent clients no matter what state they are from. This is in itself deceitful when in fact they have no clue what the law requires from state to state. We never had an opportunity for honest representation from an Indiana licensed attorney. Instead a conflict of interest existed between us and Attorney Robert Duff. We severed ties with Robert Duff several months ago. Phillips & Garcia Law Firm hired him back knowing very well why we severed ties with him. We were made to think Mr. Duff would represent us with good intentions, when in fact all indications related he was angry with us for letting him go. If we had known Phillips and Garcia Law Firm was relying on our previous attorney for a sponsorship in the Indiana Federal Courts we would have not chosen Phillips and Garcia Law Firm to represent us.
We were led to believe we had a secure case against Feiwell & Hannoy P.C. Mr. Phillips told us Feiwell & Hannoy P.C.(attorney group who initially filed a wrongful foreclosure suit on us in April 2010) was seeking to settle as per a prior email. The email dated July 12, 2011 stated; (Feiwell & Hannoy is seeking a demand to settle the second case. Damages in the two cases cannot overlap (i.e. you are not allowed to double dip and ask for the damages twice). Settling both cases at the same time would appear to be advantageous. The second case is valued at $5,000. We are seeking permission to make a demand of around $15,000 to $20,000 in that case to see what the defendant comes back with.) We gave Mr. Phillips our permission to proceed @ $30,000. We never heard anything further regarding the Feiwell & Hannoy settlement. We later assumed this to be a lure, only to get us to settle with Bank of America. We have questioned our standings with the Feiwell & Hannoy case on numerous occasions. We received an email from Carlin Phillips dated September 27, 2011 stating this case now has limited value. And the Attorney of record Robert Duff is seeking to withdraw. This whole masquerade has caused us added stress and grief beyond imaginable belief. Mr. Phillips made empty promises not only verbally, but also in writing. We’ve asked Phillips and Garcia Law Firm to submit settlement offers on numerous occasions and he has not, he has refused to submit our offers. Now we find Phillips and Garcia Law Firm, Robert Duff, and Joseph DeMello has submitted a withdrawal, directly from the advice of the Magistrate, and to be effective by October 28, 2011. We’ve received letters from the court/Magistrate stating Phillips and Duff no longer represent us, but the defense counsel said they are still the attorney of Record. We are very confused and bewildered.
This whole case has been botched from the very start by misrepresentation. We put our trust into the legal system and were never afforded the opportunity to be heard and respected as the innocent parties. This malpractice has affected our lives in ways that are unimaginable. We’ve constantly, day after day been forced to endure an emotional roller coaster ride, our financial stability has been shaken to the point of no return, our emotional stability has been totally wrecked, our physical and mental stability has been misused and weakened, and our marriage has been tested in ways that are unacceptable. A day does not go by without a conversation about this travesty; it has virtually taken over our lives. We have lost social acquaintances because of this. These are but a few of the reactions from the unorthodox and unethical actions the legal system has forced us to endure.
We know this may sound as if we are fabricating and exaggerating a story, but we can assure you we have been truthful and can substantiate every detail associated to our complaint. Should you have any questions, please contact us at either email: daveleforge@aol.com , phone# 513-604-4108 or home address 203 Lady Palm Dr. Naples, Fl. 34104
David and Luda Christine LeForge
I completely sympathize with your plight. Like mine, it is very lengthy and would be unbelievable if I did not have a similar experience.
We always thought that if anything ever happened to us, we would have the laws to protect us. We thought all the history we learned in school about our government would at long last serve us well, only to find out we had lost it long ago when we were not paying attention.
Even getting someone to listen is difficult.
I sincerely hope you are able to find assistance in your struggle. Do not give up, keep talking until someone listens!