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Alleged Billing Abuses Widespread in Mortgage Foreclosure Cases

August 18, 2013 | Posted in : Billing Practices, Expenses / Costs, NALFA News

A recent ABA Journal story, “Lawyers in Multiple States Face Inquiry, or Worse, Over Legal Fees in Mortgage Foreclosure Matters,” reports that foreclosure lawyers in multiple states are facing allegations concerning the fees they charged clients seeking mortgage modifications or concerns that they used questionable billing practices while representing lenders in foreclosure cases.

In California, attorney Stephen Siringoringo was ordered by the State Bar Court to stop practicing law after accepting up-front payments from mortgage modification clients.  The state law has banned such fees since 2009.

In Florida, attorney Eric Mader of the Mader Law Group and another individual are accused of charging up-front fees in national foreclosure-rescue operations, providing misleading information to clients and charging for services that weren’t rendered in a complaint filed by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

In Colorado, the state attorney general’s office is investigating a half-dozen law firms over concerns that they are charging unreasonable markups on legal expenses associated with mortgage foreclosure cases while representing lenders.

“At NALFA, our position is that these alleged billing abuses are much worse than the alleged overbilling at DLA Piper that was reported on earlier this year,” said Terry Jesse, NALFA Executive Director.  "These alleged billing abuses appear to be systematic, widespread, and in the Colorado case, there's evidence of collusion," Jesse concluded.  NALFA also reported on this story in “Colorado AG Investigates Billing Practices of Foreclosure Lawyers”