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$25 Billion Settlement Vindication
for Homeowners,
Says Foreclosure Defense Attorney
The robosigning settlement is an important achievement
for President Obama and the country, but for
foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim and
the people he represents, it is also vindication.
Oppenheim has been defending homeowners for years, and
has been calling for widespread change on the South Florida
Law Blog, long before it was fashionable to do so.
Before robosigning was a word most people knew, Oppenheim
rallied for homeowners to confront the banks in
court.
"Initially I did not believe that our nation's biggest banks
would be so arrogant as to create false documentation in
order to push foreclosures through," Oppenheim says.
But with every new client that walked through his doors
demanding help, he saw more and more cases where the
banks were willing to commit perjury and forgery in order
to go through with foreclosures.
"They were cutting corners left and right, all in the name of
expediency," Oppenheim adds, "but the corners they were
cutting were on the U.S. Constitution."
During their casework he and the
attorneys at Oppenheim Law discovered
that banks were committing
systemic fraud at the highest
level, so they could foreclose on
homes when they did not legally
have the right to do so.
What's worse, Oppenheim claims,
is that the courts were often complicit
with the banks and did not allow
homeowners the opportunity to
defend themselves.
"The rules of civil procedure were being thrown out the
door, and good people were being denied their day in
court," Oppenheim says.
With last week's 25 billion dollar settlement now officially
unveiled, Americans can now see what Oppenheim has long
been saying, that the banks were not looking out for their
borrowers.
"The truth is no amount of money would have been enough,"
adds Oppenheim. "And since we can't put the banks in jail,
they got what was in essence a very public shaming."
While Oppenheim feels the settlement is a slap on the wrist
to the banks, he believes it was a crucial and necessary step
in order to begin fixing the housing crisis.
"It was a down payment on the next settlement, which is
coming, and will make what the banks paid out last week
look like peanuts."
With President Obama, who Oppenheim now calls a reengaged
president, appointing New York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman to lead the Residential Mortgage Backed Security
Working Group, he finally sees a government finally
working for the American homeowner.
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