Foreclosure fees has local judge steaming mad

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Five local lawyers have their own date in court later this month.

A Pasco County judge is demanding to know why, in many cases, law firms are serving families who are being foreclosed on over and over again with the same paperwork.

Bill Lazarony is losing his Clearwater home to foreclosure and there’s nothing funny about it except these summons officially notifying him, his wife and their "unknown spouses" of the banks intention to take their home.

"The unknown spouse is truly unknown," Lazarony said.

Lazarony's lawyer says this is an example of the exasperating, increasingly standard industry procedure that's costing tax payers millions and millions of dollars.

"These costs are costs every single tax payer, every home owner is paying because we are subsidizing these loans and the costs of litigation," says attorney Matthew Weidner.

The Tampa-based Florida Default Law Group, which is handling the foreclosure of the Lazarony's home for Wells Fargo, not only served Bill Lazarony and his wife Daniela at $45 a pop, they also served Lazarony's unknown spouse and Daniela's unknown spouse at another $45. Then they served the couple's four "unknown" tenants at $40.

"Did you and your wife have any children?” we asked.

“We had no children," he said.

Several days after serving Lazarony's wife in this very living room, a process server attempted to serve her again at several locations around Clearwater. Yes, at $45-dollars a pop.

In the end, there were a total of 12 charges for a home owned by two people. Total cost, $515 for a job the Lazarony's lawyer says should have cost less than a hundred bucks.

Bill Lazarony's situation is not a joke and it's not unique. So much so, one local judge says she's had enough.

"I'm just not going to tolerate it," said Judge Susan Gardner.

Pasco County Circuit Court Judge Susan Gardner isn't over seeing the Lazarony's foreclosure, but in 11 out of 12 cases she's reviewed she's discovered what appear to be inflated charges for process serving.

"I've seen up to $1600...that's why I've put my foot down," Gardner said.

"When you multiply by the volume we have we're not talking about a couple hundred dollars, we're talking about a lot of money," Gardner said.

Gardner is ordering lawyers from several firms including Florida Default Law to appear before her next month with explanations.

In a statement to ABC Action News the firm's managing partner said his law practice has no financial stake in the process servers it uses and that “The firm will submit a response (to Judge Gardner) together with supporting documentation" (see entire statement below).

As for Bill Lazarony, He’s now going after the bank that's going after him. His attorney is trying to get the foreclosure case dismissed based on "fraud" when it comes to the multiple summonses.

“Those are big words and frankly when you look at the specific facts of that case I cannot conceive of any other explanation other than fraud," said Weidner.

Florida Default Law is also being investigated by the Florida Attorney General's Office as part of a broader investigation into law firms handling foreclosure cases.

 Statement from Ronald R. Wolfe, Managing Partner, Florida Default Law Group P.L.

"Florida Default Law Group, P.L. utilizes wholly independent service of process vendors to perfect service of process in foreclosure actions. Neither the firm nor its attorneys have any ownership interest in any service of process vendor. All service of process costs charged by the process vendor are paid by the firm. The costs charged to and paid by the firm are included in the affidavits of attorneys' fees and costs and are supported by an attached invoice from the process server. The firm has confirmed payment of these costs through cancelled checks. The firm will submit a response together with supporting documentation to the Judge's Orders confirming these facts."

Ronald R. Wolfe, Managing Partner, Florida Default Law Group P.L.