Foreclosures

Just how much villainy can one bank get into?

* North Carolina lawmakers say they’ve reached a deal to repeal the state’s controversial bathroom bill. I wonder how those negotiations went: “Hey, this law is awful and is costing our state billions. Let’s get rid of it.” “Okay.” I mean that’s probably not how it went, but it’s how it should have gone. [Reuters]

* Five University of California law schools are sharing the wealth after an improper foreclosure verdict results in a big punitive damages award. The judge directed a portion of that money to go to the law schools — $4 million each — earmarked for consumer law education and direct legal services. [Law.com]

* Hawaii successfully converted the TRO on the Trump administration’s Muslim Ban 2.0 into a preliminary injunction. [Hogan Lovells]

* Seattle is the first city to sue over the Trump administration’s threats against sanctuary cities. [LA Times]

* Bridgegate results in prison sentences. Bridget Kelly was sentenced to 18 months, and Bill Baroni got 2 years. [New York Times]

* Doublespeak — the environment edition. [Politico]

* Is Sean Spicer is lying about whether the White House really wants former acting Attorney General Sally Yates to testify to Congress? [The Hill]

* Judge Andrew Napolitano is back at Fox News, and back to conspiracy theories. [CNN]

* Interesting piece by Donald Trump SCOTUS shortlister on how state high courts deal with the “Scalia problem,” that is, potential stalemates or ties. [Wall Street Journal]

* The Hulk Hogan verdict is looming over the latest addition to the New York rental market: for $15,000 a month, you can rent Nick Denton’s Soho apartment. [New York Post]

* A look at the Supreme Court dissents that attack the majority opinion. Spoiler alert: they mainly come from Justice Thomas. [Empirical SCOTUS]

* The FBI launched an intense investigation into foreclosure fraud in Florida after the financial collapse of 2008. Why did it only result in one conviction? [Vice]

* 7 tips for developing business out of being a social media influencer. [Law and More]

Attorney S.D. Thames attempts a Herculean task: make real estate (such as mortgages, escrow, and yes, foreclosure) actually interesting.

This is turning out to be a cruel, cruel summer for law firms.

Happy holidays from your favorite foreclosure attorney!

* A company has limited bathroom breaks to 6 minutes daily. Well, gutting pensions and suppressing wages hasn’t caused a revolution, why not let it ride. [Slate] * A Florida town has imposed criminal sanctions against sagging pants. But Chief Justice Roberts told me racism was over in the South… [Fashionista] * Who says crime doesn’t pay? [CBS News] * Mayer Brown wants you to think the Supreme Court wasn’t tilted toward business interests this Term. Yes, we all know how Homer City turned out, but maybe it’s worth evaluating this based on how important the cases were. Is Petrella really equivalent to Noel Canning? [Mayer Brown] * Not one, but two former Utah Attorneys General charged with corruption. [Deseret News] * The CFPB brought suit against a debt collection lawsuit mill. A working CFPB. One more great thing we used to get from recess appointments. Thanks Breyer. [CFPB] * Oh no. A law school tuition Kickstarter. [Kickstarter] * New York tried to help homeowners facing foreclosure. Unfortunately, the law didn’t create a remedy if the banks refused to follow the law. Well, it was our fault for thinking Albany could do something right. [WiseLaw NY]

We've got another foreclosure mill for you to point and laugh at.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon isn't as rare as one would hope.

Remember the two Skadden partners who got hit with a big benchslap, an order to show cause why they shouldn't be sanctioned? What punishment did they get from the court?

Responding to a big-time benchslap by a federal judge, a high-profile Skadden partner issues a giant mea culpa.

* This guy gets an A for imagination, but he fails the whole “How do you not realize that emergency dispatch will not send you a ride to go on a beer run, even if you call 911 nine times” test. [WCTI12] * You know you’re addicted to cigarettes when you’ll smoke cigarettes that were hidden in a baby’s diaper. Then again, smoking already involves inhaling something covered in s**t. [Legal Juice] * If you think tenants should get screwed because of a landlord who can’t pay his bills, you’re probably a horrible landlord. [The Consumerist] * A 49-year-old attorney is charged with sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman in her room at the Chicago W Hotel. Bad news Bears. Seriously, ugh. [Chicago Tribune] * Just give me all the foreclosed homes you have. Wait, wait. I worry what you just heard was ‘give me a lot of foreclosed homes.’ What I said was: Give me all the foreclosed homes you have. Do you understand? [My Fox Detroit via Legal Blog Watch] * Whoever produces public-service announcements forgot that not only are drugs bad but so is a propensity toward violent anger. One could argue the latter is more likely to land you in jail. Either way, hilarious. [Buzz Feed]

A law firm gets a dubious FIRST from a new government enforcement agency.

* Dewey even care if we spent money like it was going out of print? A new D&L bankruptcy court filing states that the failed firm used $43M of secured lenders’ funds in less than a month in an attempt to save the ship from sinking. [Bloomberg]

* The Jerry Sandusky trial continues: Mike McQueary’s testimony in the former football coach’s case was pretty disgusting, but then again, most things are going to be pretty disgusting when you’re dealing with an alleged child predator. [Daily Item]

* A few ways you can tell this isn’t England: 1) our dental hygiene is generally better; 2) our royalty is entirely made up of reality TV stars; and 3) you still can’t serve people via social networking sites like Facebook. [paidContent]

* Foul ball(s)! Remember Clark Calvin Griffith, the former William Mitchell adjunct sports law professor who was accused of unsportsmanlike penile conduct? He pleaded guilty to indecent exposure. [Pioneer Press]

* “Do I have to read the whole settlement?” Yup! UC Irvine Law’s consumer protection clinic will work to see if banks are keeping their end of the bargain in a $25B foreclosure-abuse settlement. [Los Angeles Times]

* Anna Gristina, the accused “Millionaire Madam,” claims in a motion to dismiss that police tried to make her name her johns, one of whom is apparently “a prominent Manhattan lawyer.” But which one? [New York Post]

* CBS claims that ABC’s “Glass House” is a rip off of “Big Brother,” and the network is trying to block the show from airing. OMG, please let it air so we can see this law school dropout in action. [Celebrity Justice / FindLaw]

* Joe Amendola has filed a motion to dismiss the child sex abuse charges against his client, Jerry Sandusky. And if he actually thinks that’s going to happen, then he definitely needs to call 1-800-REALITY. [Associated Press]

* @AllenStanford’s motion for a #newtrial has been denied. The Ponzi schemer’s “conviction by journo tweet” argument has failed. Major props to Judge David Hittner for issuing a ruling in less than 140 characters. [Bloomberg]

* Everyone’s obsessed with the U.S. News law school rankings, but here’s a ranking that people should actually be paying attention to: the law schools that lead to the most debt. [The Short List / U.S. News and World Report]

* This defunct firm’s homeless Halloween party just won’t be as fun this year. Steven J. Baum P.C. has to fork over $4M to settle a probe over its alleged foreclosure abuses. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]

* St. John’s Law is planning to launch two new LL.M. programs, neither of which is in tax. This is newsworthy because people will apply anyway, and then bitch about the “value” of their degree. [National Law Journal]

* John Payton, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, RIP. [NAACP LDF]

If you don’t have a lawyer, it is hard to really put their feet to the fire and make sure the banks have every ‘t’ crossed and ‘i’ dotted… We are going to make sure funding for those legal services is restored. — New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, discussing the implications of a […]

* Rick Santorum and the Sweater Vests can join Rick Perry’s ballot access lawsuit in Virginia. It’s funny, because at this rate, Perry will have dropped out before the first hearing. [Washington Post] * If you’re an unemployed law grad drowning in debt, you should’ve known that you’d be screwed. Warning! Danger, Will Robinson! Opinion […]

* One of the reasons that members of Congress are so filthy rich is because they’re only technically breaking the law, but Scott Brown wants to try to curb Congressional “insider trading.” [CBS News] * In other Congressional news, pizza is now considered a vegetable. And fat people the world over rejoiced by stuffing their […]

I again want to sincerely apologize for the inappropriate costumes worn by some of our employees at our Halloween Party in 2010. It was in extremely poor taste and I take full responsibility. I know people were extremely offended and people have every right to be upset with me and my firm. — Steven J. […]

Over the weekend, you might have seen the Times story on the Stephen J. Baum law firm. As the largest so-called "foreclosure mill" in New York state, they represent banks that kick people out of their homes. Every year the Baum firm hosts a huge Halloween party. Last year, employees reportedly dressed up like the some of the people who lose their homes during the course of Baum's foreclosure business. Some people are outraged that foreclosure lawyers don't have "compassion" for their adversaries....