Procedure Shmashedure!

Civil procedure is very important as I keep telling my staff.

Take for instance the example of the woman who decides not to pay her common charges for her apartment. One month after living rent free, she recieves a letter from the Board of Directors for her Co-op. One month after that they pull together the file for review. A month after that they send it to the attorney. The attorney sends a letter and one month later follows it up a complaint. Service is done by a marshal within a week or so. The return date (date six days after the date upon which the complaint must be returned to court) is set one month out. One day after the return date, the attorney files a Motion for Default for failure to Appear. This means the Defendant has not filed an Appearance . One month later, the Attorney files a Default for Failure to Plead. This means the Defendant has never filed any proper paperwork like an Answer. Two weeks to one month later these Motions are granted by the Court. Two weeks to one month after that the Defendant hires her own attorney to delay the process and file an Appearance. Now the Default for Failure to Appear is opened. The Defendant can now file a Motion to Dismiss or Request to Revise or any number of dilatory tactical Motions causing the case to last months and months longer. Eventually, the Defendant's attorney runs out of options short of litigating the matter and actually has to do some real work.

So he files a bankruptcy, Chapter 13 to be exact, so as to force a payment plan. Of course, his client never makes one payment. The Co-op attorney therefore files an Appearance in Bankruptcy Court followed by a Motion for Relief from The Automatic Stay!!!! AUGGUH! Do you see how this gets frustrating!? Wait... it gets worse. The Defendants falls out of Chapter 13 before the Judge can hand down a decision on the Relief. They convert to a Chapter 7. Again the Plaintiff's Attorney files the same motion to be heard again. After multiple corrections, filing fees, meetings with the Court, several months passing, it is heard and granted.

Now almost a year has passed and the lawyers begin battling with stupid Motions in Civil Court again! No Answer has been filed. The Motion for Default to Appear has obviously been denied now. The Plaintiff's Attorney's Staff has not filed a Motion for Default for Failure to Plead because of all the other complications. He does however file a Motion for Strict Foreclosure. Months are passing while they wait for it to get on the calendar to be argued. It finally gets on the calendar, there are no Objections, and the day of argument, the Plaintiff Attorney in his review of the file realizes there is no Judgment of Default so he can not go forward! UGH! They mark off the argument. They file there Motion for Default and now they are waiting again. Waiting..... waiting.... waiting...

The moral of this inconsequential and boring diatribe is that if you are a client trying to foreclose on somebody, please realize, these things take plenty of time even without active fighting in court. Procedure takes time. If you are client trying to save your home, please realize this is something we do and have been doing for some clients for several years without their having to make one mortgage payment. And if you are contemplating going to law school or becoming a lawyer, please understand, procedure can rob you of your wits! All this waiting will drive you nuts.

If you are looking for someone to save you or your home, look no further. We are willing to give it a try.