llinois sheriff: No foreclosure evictions on my watch

[Raineyrocks]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/08/chicago.evictions/index.html

llinois sheriff: No foreclosure evictions on my watch
   

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said Wednesday he is suspending foreclosure evictions in Cook County, which had been on track to reach a record number of evictions, many because of mortgage foreclosures.
Sheriff Thomas J. Dart of Cook County, Illinois, says proper eviction procedures aren't always been followed.

Sheriff Thomas J. Dart of Cook County, Illinois, says proper eviction procedures aren't always been followed.

He said many of the evictions involve renters who are paying their rent on time but are being thrown out because the landlord has fallen behind on mortgage payments.

Mortgage companies are supposed to identify a building's occupants before asking for an eviction, but sheriff's deputies routinely find that the mortgage companies have not done so, he said.

"These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people, and don't care who's in the building," Dart said. "They simply want their money and don't care who gets hurt along the way.

"On top of it all, they want taxpayers to fund their investigative work for them. We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today." Video Watch sheriff announce he won't evict innocent tenants »

Dart said he wants the judiciary or the state Legislature to establish protections for those most harmed by the mortgage crisis.

In 1999, Cook County had 12,935 mortgage foreclosure cases; in 2006, 18,916 cases were filed and last year, 32,269 were filed. This year's total is expected to exceed 43,000.

"The people we're interacting with are, many times, oblivious to the financial straits their landlord might be in," Dart said. "They are the innocent victims here and they are the ones all of us must step up and find some way to protect."

The Illinois Bankers Association opposed the plan, saying that Dart "was elected to uphold the law and to fulfill the legal duties of his office, which include serving eviction notices."
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The association said Dart could be found in contempt of court for ignoring court eviction orders.

"The reality is that by ignoring the law and his legal responsibilities, he is carrying out 'vigilantism' at the highest level of an elected official," it said. "The Illinois banking industry is working hard to help troubled homeowners in many ways, but Sheriff Dart's declaration of 'marshal law' should not be tolerated."

[AnarchoJesse]

X fucking D at the banks construing this as "marshal law". The banks are refusing to do their job, so he refuses to do his- sounds like fair play to me.

[KBCraig]

At first glance, I thought this was a sheriff who was finally evoking his authority, except only because sub-prime owners were being evicted. I wouldn't support him in that, because it would amount to stealing from the lenders and giving to the borrowers who didn't pay.

Then I saw that it was renters being evicted despite having paid all their rent, because the landlords didn't pay the lender.

Dunno where to go from there.

[J’raxis 270145]

At first glance, I thought this was a sheriff who was finally evoking his authority, except only because sub-prime owners were being evicted. I wouldn't support him in that, because it would amount to stealing from the lenders and giving to the borrowers who didn't pay.

Then I saw that it was renters being evicted despite having paid all their rent, because the landlords didn't pay the lender.

Dunno where to go from there.

I know I've said this somewhere before, but...

The modern banking system is so in bed with the government that I have no issues with "stealing" from these lenders any more than I would "stealing" from the government. What with the Federal Reserve System, the banks are part of the government.

Lending to someone whom you know has a high chance of being late on payments (thus knowing you'll be able to collect lots of late fees), or outright defaulting (thus knowing you'll ultimately be able to take their house back), crafting the contract in language you know they're too ignorant to understand, and knowing you'll be able to entice them to sign anyway, is already morally sketchy enough: It's just an intentionally obfuscated form of fraud in my opinion.

Add to that the fact that (according to some theories) they're engineering this crisis in order to trigger a bunch of foreclosures so they can snatch up everyone's property, and further add to that the $700,000,000,000 worth of tax dollars that these fuckers just stole from everyone. Now do you have any sympathy for these banks being stomped on by this sheriff?

[William]

At first glance, I thought this was a sheriff who was finally evoking his authority, except only because sub-prime owners were being evicted. I wouldn't support him in that, because it would amount to stealing from the lenders and giving to the borrowers who didn't pay.

Then I saw that it was renters being evicted despite having paid all their rent, because the landlords didn't pay the lender.

Dunno where to go from there.

Watch the Zeitgeist addendum and you will understand that as a matter of law, the "lenders" didn't lend him anything. They simply made a ledger entry. Since there was no consideration, the mortgage contract wasn't valid.