Chief Justice on Florida Foreclosure Hearings; "The Courts Belong To the People"

Following a recent Rolling Stone expose by Matt Taibbi exposing his very real observations that Florida foreclosure hearings were taken place behind closed doors the American Civil Liberties Union and several other media and First Amendment groups sent letters to the Florida's chief justice Charles Canady of the Florida Supreme Court and Chief Judge Donald Moran of Florida's Foruth Judicial Circuit, urging them to ensure foreclosure proceedings remain open to the public and the media. 

The letters cited a "troubling pattern of foreclosure courts operating behind closed doors." The ACLU says court observers who called two courts to ask about rules governing foreclosure proceedings were told they were closed to the public. It seems that the ACLU and media got their point across. Read Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Canady's response to the ACLU letter as he reminds us and Florida Judges: "...the courts belong to the people"

More in the news:

Homeowner Activists: We told you so.
 

Some of us have stayed conspicuously quiet while more popular and salaried "professionals" took the reins, covering and uncovering banks and servicers behaving badly. In some cases it's proved to be a painful exercise in self-restraint to not get out the soapbox and megaphone and shout, "We told you so," or at the very least littering the articles with self-affirming comments.

The exposure in the mainstream will hopefully help shed some light on the situation and draw attention to the fact that this was more than just deadbeat homeowners...

Foreclosure firms facing action from the Florida Bar

With Florida's attorney general, defense lawyers, even members of Congress challenging the state's "foreclosure mill" law firms, lenders' attorneys have had little trouble from one group: The Florida Bar.

Out of the more than 200 lawyers the Bar suspended or stripped of licenses this year, none was punished for lying in a foreclosure trial or making fake documents for one, behavior that a cottage industry of critics works to document. But that could change quickly.

Florida's foreclosure courts get harsh look

ACLU: Keep foreclosure hearings open in Florida courts

Watch C-Span coverage of the Mortgage Services and Foreclosure Practices Hearings below, or find a run-down here; Foreclosuregate: The Buck Stops Nowhere