Practice Areas

Testimonials

• "I sent this letter certified after receiving the free guide [from] Phillips & Garcia P.C. Saved Foreclosure. Thanks a million!" A.D. from Colorado
• After seeing first hand what you are up against concerning the big banking companies, we are even more amazed that you are willing to fight the fight. The little guy needs your help and your fearless attitude. You are good people and true Americans. We are honored to be called your friends. R.R. - Mich., Lockout & Trashout Victim
• The attorneys were very professional and I felt as though they always had my best interest in mind. Without them I would have been pushed around and just another number to the bank. N.L., Wrongful Lockout Victim
• Thank you Mr. Phillips. If we hadn't found you the [Bank] would have foreclosed on our property and I can't imagine the misery that they would have caused. S.N. - Arizona

View All

Breaking Legal News & Current Events

You may think that you are alone in your legal struggle, but the truth is that people just like you find themselves in similar situations each day. In these news article summaries, read about others who are fighting for justice and what is rightfully theirs -- whether it involves consumer class action lawsuits, traffic accident injuries, personal injury cases, child injury lawsuits, or wrongful foreclosure lawsuits.

News Category: All CategoriesWrongful Bank ForeclosureConsumer Class Action LawsuitsCar & Truck AccidentsPedestrian, Bicycle & Motorcycle AccidentNationalPersonal InjuryGeneral

Wrongful Bank Foreclosure

• Attorney General Martha Coakley May Sue for Foreclosure Abuses
  Oct 18, 2011

  Attorney General Martha Coakley announces that she is preparing to sue lenders for foreclosure abuses. The Boston Globe Reports. 
  
  “To the extent that banks are not meeting their obligations, this conduct is inexcusable and my office will work to hold them accountable,’’ said Coakley
  
  Coakley states that she is preparing to file suit due to improprieties related to foreclosures. Coakley made the announcement following a response to a recent Boston Globe article centered around Bank of America and their loan modification acts. Many home owners have accused Bank of America of still pursuing and threatening foreclosure follwing loan modification agreements. 
  
  To find out more about loan modifications and foreclosure practices contact the National Wrongful Foreclosure Attorneys at Phillips & Garcia Law. 
  
  
  
   

• Couple faces foreclosure after paying mortgage early
  Aug 26, 2011

• springfield approves anti-foreclosure laws
  Aug 23, 2011

  The Boston Herald Reports:
  
  Anti-foreclosure advocates are declaring Springfield's approval of new foreclosure laws the toughest in the country. Once the laws are signed by the mayor and pending the survival of legal challenges, the new ordinances would require mortgage lenders to engage in mediation with homeowners facing foreclosure. Failure to comply will result in a $300 per day fine. 
  
  Advocates claim that the new ordinances will help more homeowners stay in their homes and protect them from predatory lenders.  

• Bank of America admits error in foreclosure case
  Aug 23, 2011

• massachusetts supreme judicial court expands right to challenge bank seizures
  Aug 05, 2011

  IMPORTANT: The SJC made a ruling involving wrongful foreclosures that is being called a "major victory" for housing rights advocates and homeowners facing wrongful foreclosure.
  
  LEARN MORE FROM OUR LATEST PODCAST - SJC RULING

• Huffington Post References Phillips Garcia
  Jun 28, 2011
  In the following article pubished by the Huffington Post, Attorney Carlin Phillips is quoted by the author reporting on a Tampa retiree who had his posessions taken while away on vacation. He claims a cleaning company hired by Bank of America owned, Countrywide Loans, cleaned out and locked up his house mistakenly.
  
  Check out the article here.
  
  "We have never gotten one piece of property back." - Carlin Phillips

• Tampa retiree claims wrongful trash-out/lock-out by Countrywide and Field Asset Services
  Jun 27, 2011

  "Tampa retiree says he lost belongings in foreclosure blunder"
  Eric P. of Newcomer, Times Staff Writer reports for the St. Petersburg Times, His article can be found here.
  
  
  An 82 year old man returns to his home, following a visit to New Mexico, to find a pad lock on his door and all of his belongings missing. Along with the pad lock, sat a sign from a company that is hired to clean out foreclosed homes.
  
  The Tampa Retiree, Benito Santiago Sr., has followed with a lawsuit in Hillsborough Circuit Court against Field Asset Services Inc. and Countrywide Home Loans for damages. He claims that Field Asset Services Inc. took his belongings and locks in the fall of 2009 illegally.
  
  In the St. Petersburg article our own, Carlin Phillips, a wrongful foreclosure and illegal trash-out/lock-out expert, was interviewed.
  
  Phillips says banks fail to properly make sure they have the correct home because they have not adopted the correct policies to ensure accuracy.
  
  In this case, Santiago's home is not in foreclosure, which would be found in public records, and his son claims they may have mixed up his address with another due to a missing "0" on his mailbox.
  
  Santiago claims that his possessions were worth $100,000, "at least," but according to Carlin Phillips and his experience with over 100 trash-out and lock-out cases, "we have never seen one piece of property back."
  
  Bank of America, the current owner of Countrywide, and Field Asset Services have not commented on the matter.
  
  
  

  
  
  If you would like to speak with Carlin Phillips of Andrew Garcia about an illegal trash-out or lock-out please fill out the contact form on the right or call us at 888-449-5343.
  
  

• California Widow Sues Bank of America for Wrongfully Entering Home and Disposing of Husband's Ashes
  Dec 22, 2010

  A California widow filed suit in federal court after returning to her home and discovering that her locks had been changed and the entire contents had been removed, including the ashes of her deceased husband. In her lawsuit, Mimi Ash, alleges that a home that she owned in Truckee, California was wrongfully foreclosed on by Bank of America and that a bank contractor broke into the home, changed the locks and threw out all of her and her son's belongings without telling her beforehand.
  
  One of Ash's attorneys, Andrew Garcia said that "Ash's story is similar to many of the wrongful foreclosure lockouts happening across the country. Yet, the losses here are reprehensible. How does someone justify disposing of a person's ashes in the course of a lockout?"
  
  The New York Times carried Ash's story and detailed the claims of homeowners like Mimi Ash who are being wrongfully locked out of their homes. Ms. Ash alleges that although she was behind on the payments on the Truckee, California home, she was actively trying to work out a mortgage modification with Bank of America to no avail.
  
  Months before the seizure of her home, she alleges that the bank wrongfully conducted a foreclosure auction on the property.  The bank later acknowledged that it wrongfully sold the home at auction and rescinded the sale. Despite the rescission of the foreclosure auction, Ash then came back to the house to discover that contractors for the bank broke into her home and took everything that belonged to her and her son.
  
  The NY Times reports that the ransacking of Ash's home followed several years of personal and professional hardships for her.  During the real estate boom, Ms. Ash and her late husband, Robert, ran thriving real estate businesses and Mr. Ash bought the Truckee home in 2003. Two years later, he was stabbed to death following a road-rage incident near the town.
  
  Following her husband's death, Mimi Ash tried to work with the bank, which was originally Countrywide Financial (Countrywide was later bought by Bank of America), on assuming and modifying the mortgage on the Truckee home.  According to Ash, representatives from the bank continued to bungle the process by losing paperwork and failing to respond to Ash's many telephone and electronic inquiries about the status of the loan. 
  
  After learning of the wrongful foreclosure auction, Ms. Ash continued to work in good faith with the bank while they agreed to rescind the sale. Sometime in late October 2008, work crews for the bank broke into the house and cleaned it out.  Not only did she lose all of her valuable personal belongings, memories of her marriage in the form of photographs and videos were stolen from her. She even lost her deceased husband's ashes which were taken from the couple's master bedroom.
  
  A bank spokesperson told the N.Y. Times that they are taking Ms. Ash's allegations very seriously and that they are thoroughly researching the claims. According to the Times, BoA will work with Ms. Ash and her counsel to determine the extent and cause of her claims to move forward to an appropriate resolution of the case.
  
  SOURCE:  The New York Times (Dec. 22, 2010)

• Banks May Be Close to Settlement with Attorneys General
  Nov 17, 2010

  Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo are said to be approaching a settlement with the states' Attorneys' General over the mortgage foreclosure crisis centered around the robo-signing scandal according to a report by the Washington Post today.
  
  According to other reports, Senators pressed banking officials at a Senate Banking Committee hearing yesterday in Washington. Executives from Bank of America and Chase were urged to stop the "dual-track" process in which homeowners have loan modification applications pending with their lender while at the same time the bank moves forward with foreclosure proceedings. 
  
  The complications from this dual-track system has been highlighted in several consumer class action lawsuits over the alleged mishandling of the loan modification process by CitiMortgage, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The litigation in those class actions is still ongoing.
  
  Barbara Desire, a mortgage executive from Bank of America, told the Committee that in some cases the investors that own the mortgages require a dual-track approach. (For information about the "securitization" of mortgage products by "investors" click here). However, she also claimed that the bank is interested in working with the Attorneys General on possible reforms to the practice.
  
  Desire repeatedly testified that the bank focuses on ways to keep homeowners in their homes whenever possible; although many consumers might disagree with this representation based on their own personal experiences.
  
  Though Tuesday's hearings were brought about over the scandal surrounding "robo-signers" and the filing of false affidavits in foreclosure proceedings, much of the Attorneys' General investigation has centered around whether consumers have been getting a fair shot at the federal loan modification program under the HAMP guidelines. At the hearing, Senators brought along actual complaints from constituents who have struggled to land loan modifications from their lender.
  
  Although talks between the parties have been seemingly fruitful, all reports seem to indicate that any formal settlement might be months away.
  
  Sources: The Washington Post, The Charlotte Observer
  
  
     

• Feds Investigating Criminal Violations in Foreclosure Crisis
  Oct 19, 2010

  Breaking News - The national foreclosure crisis may leave the banking industry exposed to federal law enforcement officials who are investigating possible criminal violations according to a news report by the Washington Post.
  
  In a news alert from today's Post, the feds are examining whether financial firms may have broken the law when they filed improper foreclosure documents with courts.
  
  Following the recent discovery of document irregularities at J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Ally Financial/GMAC and Wells Fargo, many politicians and lawmakers have been calling for a national halt to foreclosures until banking industry compliance can be confirmed.
  
  Meanwhile, up to 40 state attorneys general announced last week a broad probe into mortgage servicing practices hoping to pressure the industry into rewriting large numbers of troubled loans and to bring their conduct into compliance with state laws.
  
  The latest news that federal officials may be launching a criminal investigation will, most likely, put even more pressure on the banking industry which is being rocked by this "robo-signing" foreclosure crisis.
  
  In other related news, Bank of America today announced that it would be resuming foreclosures in some states. This announcement comes only about 10 days after it announced a national moratorium on foreclosure actions in all 50 states.
  
  With the increased numbers of foreclosures taking place nationally, Phillips & Garcia is a leading firm in the fight against wrongful foreclosure lockouts and trash outs. If you've been the victim of a home lockout or trash out before a foreclosure sale, you may have important legal rights. Order our FREE book today.  

Contact Information

Free Book