Administrative Law is one of those areas that interest only academics like me. It isn’t sexy but it carries BIG teeth. Sometimes it is easier to crack the shell of the titans by an unexpected move where you win hands down and there isn’t much work to do. It’s kind of like taking down AL Capone for income tax evasion. They didn’t get him on the other crimes but he went to jail and died there.
When I was active in the practice of law, I defended many different types of individuals who were licensed by a regulatory board, including lawyers, accountants, doctors, engineers, real estate brokers etc. My eyes were opened at the tremendous amount of power these agencies wield and the devastating effect they have on licensees. It also opened my eyes to the fact that consumers had access to government help that was really there but most consumers didn’t know it.
The latest move in Florida is a simple recognition that practicing law without a license is illegal. In many states beyond fines and an injunction, it is an actual felony punishable by imprisonment. And in most states there is a PRIVATE right of action against those who practice law without a license. It is called Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL).
Before your eyes cloud over with yet another theory, this isn’t a theory. It is a fact. And besides giving you a right of action for damages, it calls into question whether any of the documents were legally prepared and if yet another misrepresentation caused you to execute them, believing that an attorney had been involved.
What this does is fill out your argument that the entire transaction was illusory and nothing was what it seemed to be. That is what TILA, RESPA and other consumer protection laws are all about. Yes you signed the documents but that doesn’t mean the documents were properly prepared, nor does it mean that a security interest in your property was ever or could ever be perfected. Yes an obligation was created, but that doesn’t mean you owe the pretender lender. If you shop at Target, the neighborhood supermarket cannot collect the money for your purchase at Target.
But I think most importantly, as the old readers of this blog have seen before, decisions like this and the FTC settlement with BOA for $108 million bring us to a point where government is getting hip to the deficiencies at all levels of the lending process and the documentation. That means that now is the time to file appropriate grievances against anyone who carries a license or charter on loan practices that do not conform with industry standards and in particular, the rules governing the profession for which they were licensed.
Who’s licensed? Just about everyone. Mortgage brokers, real estate brokers, title agents, closing agents, trustees, lenders, originators, etc. An originator like Quicken that specifically and repeatedly told its prospective customers that it was the lender when in fact they were only brokering the money as a mortgage broker or originator has a problem. It just engaged in false and deceptive business and loan practices, but more importantly it created a “table funded” loan, which is a fancy way of not telling you the identity of your creditor and how much money everyone is making on this loan.
The best part is that if you file the grievance early enough, you won’t have to go to court because the enforcement mechanism of the agency will do the investigation, the prosecution, and the discovery for you. And if you do prosecute for damages, in most cases you will prove a claim under TILA you will get attorneys fees paid by the pretender lender or other parties against whom you have filed your grievance.
Filed under: CASES, CORRUPTION, evidence, expert witness, foreclosure, foreclosure mill, Forensic Analysis Workshop, GTC | Honor, HERS, MODIFICATION, Mortgage, Motion Practice and Discovery, securities fraud, Securitization Survey, Servicer, STATUTES, trustee, workshop | Tagged: administrative law, false and deceptive, felony, Florida Bar, Florida Supreme Court, grievance, imprisonment, license, private right of action for damages, Quicken Loans, regulatory board, RESPA, table-funded, TILA, Unauthorized Practice of Law, UPL | 10 Comments »