Foreclosure Cases: Ice firm claims judge treats them with hostility

 ~Emphasis added to denote Gerald Richman's client is foreclosure mill Shapiro Fishman (under investigation by FL AG's office) & link to a motion filed with the Florida Supreme Court on his client's behalf.  Also to clarify Judge Peter Blanc's self-appointed role is not to administer justice but rather in support of the foreclosing banks and their counsel,"to get homes" (erroneously referred to as vacant & dilapidated) "back on the market and improve overall property values."

Gerald Richman defends foreclosure mill Shapiro Fishman in the article linked here and Judge Sasser in the article below! Now, this can't bode well for defendants who go in front of Judge Sasser to defend against a predatory, abusive Plaintiff who hired under-investigation Shapiro Fishman to foreclose and evict them from their Floridian home. 

More on Gerald Richman &Shapiro Fishman & the 15th Judicial Circuit connection begging the question WHY the 15th was chosen to bring a Motion to Quash here.

 

Of additional interest is that Michael Napoleone, president of the Palm Beach County Bar, is also affiliated with Gerald Richman.  The Palm Beach County Bar Association is the organization that is running Palm Beach county's foreclosure mediation program.  Conflict of interest?  Not to mention that Gerald Richman is on the JNC and Judge Jack Cox aspires to be a 4th DCA judge.  Sure...no judge shopping here!  Shouldn't Judge Cox recuse himself?

 

Foreclosure Cases
Ice firm claims judge treats them with hostility

July 07, 2010	By: Polyana da Costa

	Meenu Sasser

Lawyer Thomas Ice says in 25 years of practice he has never asked that a judge be disqualified from one of his cases — until Palm Beach Circuit Court Judge Meenu Sasser was appointed to the bench.

Sasser was assigned to preside over all foreclosure cases in Palm Beach Circuit in June of last year, after Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to the bench in April. Since then, Ice has filed more than 100 motions to disqualify Judge Sasser from cases involving his six-lawyer firm.

The motions, some of which were appealed to the 4th District Court of Appeal, contain a variety of allegations, ranging from Sasser’s purported bias against his attorneys, preferential treatment of lenders’ attorneys, ex-parte communication with a lender’s attorney and conflicts of interest stemming from the judge’s investments in lenders that are often plaintiffs in cases she presides over.

Judge Sasser has her own complaints about the Royal Palm Beach-based Ice Legal law firm.

During a hearing last week, she accused an Ice attorney of the “fraudulent” filing of a motion requesting that the judge order a lender to produce documents. She claimed the Ice firm attorney had filed the motion improperly because the lender’s attorneys had filed a motion seeking more time to respond to the discovery request.

The Ice attorney said he had withdrawn the motion after realizing it had been filed in error, but Sasser still held a hearing on the matter. During that hearing the judge also criticized the Ice firm for filing other motions to compel discovery by lenders that he still insists were filed properly.

“I’ve gotten five motions from the Ice firm, ex-parte motions, indicating that you’re entitled to ex-parte discovery, when the plaintiffs have filed motions for extension of time,” she said to Ice attorney Dustin Zacks, who was attending hearings on unrelated cases, according to a transcript.

“I have great respect for you, Mr. Zacks. I would expect better from your law firm … So, if you would let me know why I should not — why in the future I should allow you guys to do any of these ex-parte motions?”

Ice responded with a motion denying the accusation and requesting a public retraction and an apology on the record from the judge. She told the Ice firm she will grant a rehearing on the cases.

Sasser did not return calls seeking comment.

After a call was made to Sasser’s office seeking comment, attorney Gerald Richman of Richman Greer (Attorney for foreclosure mill Shapiro Fishman) in West Palm Beach called the Review. He said he “heard” about the article and wanted to speak in support of the judge on behalf of the American Board of Trial Advocates, which he said normally responds to what might be “unfair criticism of judges.”

When pressed about how he found out the Review was working on this article, he said Palm Beach Circuit Chief Judge Peter Blanc asked him to call in support of Sasser, who is prevented from commenting about pending cases and motions for recusal by judicial canon.

Richman, a past president of the trial advocates group, said the fact that the attempts by the Ice firm to remove the judge from its cases have so far been denied proves that his claims are groundless. Richman said that repeated motions for disqualification generally are a sign of a delaying strategy.

“When you have one after another after another, it becomes fairly obvious that it becomes a litigation tactic,” he said.

He said Judge Sasser’s “reputation is to be as even-handed as she can for both sides … The 4th District Court of Appeal has spoken uniformly denying those attempts as being groundless.”

Sasser has denied all but one of the dozens of motions for disqualification filed by the Ice firm since becoming a judge.

Ice has appealed nine of those cases. Seven have been denied by the 4th District and two are pending.

In one petition to the 4th DCA, Ice describes the judge’s attitude towards his attorneys as “acrimonious and antagonistic,” and cites “a hostile emotional outburst” directed at an Ice attorney during an open court hearing earlier this year.

“The outburst was so starling and uncharacteristic that it caused an audible reaction from audience members,” the petition reads.

A sworn statement by an Ice assistant who was present at the hearing described the episode, noting the judge’s vocal tone and facial expression changed when Ice attorneys stood at the podium.

“At one point she stood up and was yelling at counsel and I noticed other attorneys sitting the courtroom gasp at the suddenness and ferocity of the display.”

Spectators have been struck by the conflict between Ice attorneys and Judge Sasser on more than one instance.

Attorney Lynn Szymoniak, who specializes in mortgage fraud and other white collar crimes, recently was in Judge Sasser’s courtroom for a series of morning hearings. Several Ice law firm attorneys were appearing before the judge.

“The hostility from the judge to Ice lawyers was evident and recognizable by everyone in the court room,” she said. “It’s not fair to litigants themselves and certainly undermines the opinion of everyone regarding equal justice in the courtroom.”

Szymoniak said she has exchanged e-mails with Thomas Ice regarding legal matters but has not met him.

“I was actually quite concerned,” said Szymoniak, who acts as an expert witness for federal and state governments and insurance companies. She visited Sasser’s courtroom to observe the foreclosure defense strategies attorneys were using.

“[The Ice attorneys] weren’t allowed to finish sentences. Their arguments, they were cut short … People were beginning to laugh nervously. It was a definite buzz,” Szymoniak.

Richman said judges often become upset if attorneys don’t act professionally, which he said may be the case with the Ice firm.

“They are filing motions for prohibition that are repeatedly unfounded,” he said. “You cannot allow a lawyer or law firm that may be acting unprofessionally to go ahead and prevent the judge from doing their duty.”

Ice said one reason he has sought disqualification of Judge Sasser is to protect his reputation.

“I’ve never had a judge accuse me of doing anything and it is very important to me to protect that reputation,” he said. “We defend cases in 14 other counties across the state and appear in front of many different judges in Miami-Dade and Broward, and have never filed a motion for disqualification against any other judge. I take such motions very seriously and underwent considerable soul searching before embarking on this path.”

BAD FAITH RULING

Ice said he doesn’t know when his troubles with Judge Sasser began. He said one of his first conflicts with the judge came a few months after she was appointed to the bench, when she ruled his firm had acted in bad faith in a case. Her ruling was later overturned by Palm Beach Circuit Judge Edward Garrison, who took over the case after Sasser stepped aside.

After her bad faith ruling, Ice filed a motion to disqualify her. It was the only motion for disqualification filed by Ice against Judge Sasser that she did not deny within the allowed 30 days. That automatically granted the disqualification.

Recently, Ice filed an emergency petition asking the 4th District Court of Appeal to remove her from another of his firm’s cases, claiming that Judge Sasser gave preferential treatment and legal tips to a lender’s attorney during a trial.

In the motion, he claimed the judge balked at allowing an Ice attorney to file an additional document 12 days before a trial. Ice said the judge allowed the lender’s attorney to add two documents just hours before the trial.

Sasser heard Ice’s motion to file the additional document two days before the trial and she said he could not amend documents unless his two clients appeared for a second deposition at a time chosen by the lender’s attorney, according to the petition.

In contrast, when the lender’s attorney e-mailed a motion to amend his evidence list, the judge agreed to the change without requiring additional depositions, despite objections by the Ice firm.

“Ironically, the judge maintained that she was providing equal treatment in the very process of denying it,” the petition reads.

“What’s good for the goose, isn’t good for the gander?,” she asked the Ice attorney during the hearing, according to a transcript. “If you amended your exhibit list, then why can’t they amend their exhibit list?”

In the same emergency petition, Ice criticized the judge for distributing an unsolicited copy of a recent court decision favorable to a lender while the attorney for the lender was making his arguments in opposition to Ice’s motion for dismissal.

“It was highly inappropriate for the judge to feed a case to the bank’s attorney during his presentation so that it could be incorporated into his arguments,” Ice said in the petition.

“These anti-ethical decisions,” support “their repeatedly expressed fear that they could not receive a fair trial so long as Judge Sasser was presiding,” Ice wrote referring to his clients.

Richman said the issue doesn’t strike him as being improper.

“That’s totally appropriate and I have had that happen many times,” he said. “This is probably a case the judge thought would be of significance, something she would rely on. In pointing it out, she is actually being fair to both sides.”

Ice has also claimed that Judge Sasser has substantial investments in institutions that are plaintiffs in cases over which she presides. He claims the investments “can be substantially affected by the collective outcomes” of his cases and others brought by those lenders.

Sasser’s personal investments in mutual funds managed by companies connected with the banking industry, total about $350,000, according to Sasser’s annual financial disclosure form, which Ice included in his filing with the 4th DCA.

According to Ice and Judge Sasser’s financial disclosure statements, she has about $350,000 invested in mutual funds managed by companies with ties to the banking industry.

Ice claimed in court documents that the judge also owns shares worth about $132,000 in a mutual fund in which the top 25 holdings include Wells Fargo, Bank of New York Mellon, and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Richman said the claims are without merit.

“That’s like saying a federal judge ought to be disqualified from ruling on anything involving a bank because he has a bank account,” he said. “The real question is, is there any likelihood of any kind of material affect on her personally as a result of ruling in one of how many mortgage foreclosure cases that all these institutions are involved in? ... If you carry that to the extreme virtually no judge will be able to rule on anything involving financial institutions.”

Ice said that on an individual basis, the cases might not seem significant, but collectively, their outcome could have a big impact on the value of her holdings.

In one of the motions, Ice said the judge owns $25,000 worth of Bank of America stocks. According to Ice’s estimates, the total collateral at stake for Bank of America in cases assigned to Judge Sasser is over $1.5 billion.

Foreclosure defense attorney Carol Ashbury said when Sasser was appointed some attorneys were concerned that the judge had represented lenders when working for Gunster. They feared that would influence her rulings.

Sasser was a shareholder at Gunster, which represented several big lenders, including Countrywide Home Loans, which has been sued by the state. While in private practice, Sasser was a business litigator with a practice focused on commercial and intellectual property litigation. In her judicial application Sasser cited at least one case in which she represented a lender, Citicorp.

Ashbury said she has not noticed any bias by Sasser.

“In the very beginning there were many people who thought she couldn’t be objective, but I truly believe she is trying to be fair,” she said.

Polyana da Costa can be reached at (954) 468-2614.

Meenu Sasser photo by Melanie Bell