TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Supreme Court has sided with a bank on a change in a key ruling on mortgage foreclosure fraud.
The justices on Thursday released a revised opinion of a Feb. 7 ruling that trial judges cannot stop lenders from voluntarily withdrawing foreclosure suits to avoid being penalized for submitting fraudulent documents.
Bank of New York Mellon tried to foreclose on Palm Beach County homeowner Roman Pino. Both sides agreed the justices erred by saying court rules require "attorney verification" of foreclosure complaints.
Pino proposed correcting the opinion to say "plaintiff verification." The bank proposed simply deleting the word "attorney."
Thursday's opinion shows that justices deleted "attorney."
