Legal News

Judge clears AG subpoena of Stern firm

By (Breaking Legal News)

Broward Circuit Judge Eileen O'Connor cleared the way Thursday for a state attorney general's office subpoena to obtain foreclosure records from the Law Offices of David J. Stern in Plantation, which has filed foreclosures with the courts by the thousands for the nation's biggest lenders.

O'Connor'stwo-paragraph ruling offered no comment or insight into her legal reasoning but authorized the subpoena under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

"She's not required to give any explanation," said Jeffrey Tew, the Tew Cardenas attorney for Stern who asked to quash the subpoena.

Stern's back-office operation, the publicly traded DJSP Enterprises, issued a statement late Thursday saying the company is cutting its staff about 10 percent and an audit committee of independent directors has started an internal investigation with Greenberg Traurig as outside counsel.

O'Connor reached the opposite conclusion of Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jack Cox, who quashed a separate subpoena last week that was served on another law firm, Shapiro & Fishman of Boca Raton and Tampa. The West Palm Beach judge refused Thursday to reconsider his decision.

Attorney General Bill McCollum has been pursuing litigation against four Florida law firms accused of shoddy foreclosure practices.

Full post as published by Breaking Legal News on October 15, 2010 (boomark / email).