New Court Program Aims to Help Homeowners, Lenders Reach Settlements

Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals Judith S. Kaye responded last week to the dramatic rise in residential foreclosure filings throughout New York by announcing a new pilot program in Queens County intended to educate homeowners and facilitate negotiations through court-sponsored early settlement conferences to try to resolve foreclosure cases without further litigation. As a Program Partner of the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, Legal Services NYC is helping to coordinate new and expanded foreclosure prevention legal services city-wide.

The court system’s new program will help ensure that homeowners are
aware of available legal service providers and mortgage counselors who
can help them avoid unnecessary foreclosures and reach out-of-court
resolutions. The homeowner will receive a special court notice
containing information about these service providers whenever a
foreclosure action is commenced. The parties will also be given the
opportunity to attend an early court conference to explore settlement
possibilities.

The
nonprofit Center for New York City Neighborhoods will play a lead role
in selecting the resources, or service providers. The Center is a new,
comprehensive initiative dedicated to providing legal services, housing
counseling, and community education and outreach services to combat the
subprime and predatory mortgage lending crisis in New York City.

“The recent exponential increase in foreclosure filings has
far-reaching consequences –displaced families, devastated neighborhoods
and losses to the state economy,” Chief Judge Kaye said in a press release announcing the initiative. “The
Residential Foreclosure Program was created to facilitate
communication, expedite resolutions and promote positive outcomes for
those affected by the residential mortgage foreclosure crisis. The
result is a program that may shorten the lives of these cases by up to
15 months – ultimately benefiting not only the parties directly
involved, but also the neighborhoods that would otherwise be left
destabilized by these vacant properties. The program serves the best
interests of all New Yorkers by reducing hardship, cost and
neighborhood blight in our hardest hit communities.”

Through our Foreclosure Prevention work at South Brooklyn Legal Services, Staten Island Legal Services, Legal Services NYC-Bronx, Brooklyn Legal Services Corp. A, and the Legal Support Unit, Legal Services NYC is at
the forefront of the national fight against predatory lending practices
in the subprime lending market. Predatory lending practices lead to
foreclosure, homelessness, financial devastation and loss of
hard-earned equity (which is the sole source of wealth for many lower
income homeowners), displacement of long-time residents and
destabilization of neighborhoods. Legal Services NYC's work includes providing legal assistance– including advice, advocacy and litigation services– to homeowners; providing advice and assistance to community-based organizations on specific cases; and helping to coordinate and provide training for foreclosure prevention advocates throughout the City.

Read
more about the new Residential Foreclosure Program at the New
York Law Journal website (free article). View the Court's June 18th
Press release here.

Legal Services NYC —the largest
organization exclusively devoted to providing free civil legal services in the United States, with
neighborhood offices in every borough of New
York City—provides
free help on cases involving housing, family, domestic violence, public
benefits, income tax, employment, education, consumer rights and economic
development.  Legal Services NYC programs include Legal Services
NYC-Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Legal Services, Brooklyn Family Defense
Project, Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Legal Services NYC-Brooklyn
Branch, South Brooklyn Legal Services, Manhattan Legal Services, Queens
Legal Services, Staten Island Legal Services, and the Legal Services NYC Legal
Support Unit. Funding for the Legal Services NYC programs comes from the Legal
Services Corporation, grants from the city, the state and federal agencies,
private foundations, United Way of New York City, the New York State Interest
on Lawyers Account Fund and private donations.

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