12/4/2011
One of the key law firms handling foreclosures in the United States is shutting down after it was banned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from receiving new tasks from servicers and lenders. It was the same law firm that threw a Halloween party in 2010 where the employees were dressed up as foreclosure victims, mocking those who had lost their homes.
The photos from that party leaked on the Internet, but law firm Steven J. Baum P.C., one of the biggest foreclosure law firms in the state of New York, was also linked to the robo-signing scandal, where landers seeking to filed fake paperwork to speed up the process.
The firm has announced its closure on Monday. According to the Buffalo News, Baum handled 40% of all foreclosures in the state.
Even before the “robo-signing” controversy erupted which pushed the law firm into the spotlight and into the middle of a nationwide catastrophe over the legitimacy of a lot of foreclosures, the law firm had already been at the receiving end of criticism from consumers and consumer advocates for its work on behalf of the lenders. This was revealed by a news outfit based in Buffalo, New York. In October of 2010, the hullaballoo broke nationwide when lenders and bank workers were charged with indiscriminately signing foreclosure papers.
Steven J. Baum, the owner of the law firm, in a statement, said, “Disrupting the livelihoods of so many dedicated and hardworking people is extremely painful, but the loss of so much business left us no choice but to file these notices.”
Requests for comments were forwarded by Steven Baum law firm to Earl Wells, its spokesman, who did not return any request.
