Peter Tictkin Discovers Meaning of Irony.

Peter Ticktin, who recently came under fire for placing mortgages on his clients' homes as payment for saving those very homes from foreclosure, is himself facing foreclosure of his own home:

Deutsche Bank National began foreclosure proceedings on Ticktin's Boca Raton home in 2007 after the lawyer and his wife fell behind on their loan. The couple haven't made a mortgage payment since December 2006 and continues to live in the home 3,920-square-foot house in Paradise Palms.

Ticktin has fought Deutsche Bank using the same strategy that he's been able to use for his clients: uncovering sloppy paperwork and poorly prepared mortgage files. In the Ticktins' case, Deutsche Bank didn't have their mortgage note, a problem that has surfaced in tens of thousands of foreclosure defense cases nationwide.Deutsche Bank dropped its foreclosure action in February after the Ticktins' attorneys claimed they didn't have enough information to respond because there was no note. The bank refiled the foreclosure last month.

"It's embarrassing that I'm in foreclosure. But I now understand my clients better than some lawyers who never had a problem in their lives," said Ticktin, whose firm is handles 3,000 foreclosure defense cases at two Florida offices, one in Deerfield Beach and one in Tampa.

He said he's confident his attorney Jamie Sasson, who works for his firm, can defend against the action. "[Deutsche Bank] doesn't have the paperwork," Ticktin said. He says he also was talked into a badly structured loan when, desperate for money, he refinanced.

 I wonder whether Ticktin's attorney Jamie Sasson -- if successful -- plans to place a mortgage on his boss' property.

Awkward!

Peter Ticktin Says Client Mortgages OK!

You know that foreclosure defense attorney who is taking out mortgages on his clients' homes?

Turns out he was twice sanctioned by the Bar and they're taking a look at this issue as we speak:

Peter Ticktin, whose license has been suspended by the Bar twice since 2009, told the Times that the second mortgage would take effect only if he succeeded in having the foreclosure dismissed and the homeowner’s loan reduced. He also said his firm never would foreclose on his own clients should they stop paying on their second mortgages.

Elizabeth Tarbert, the Bar’s ethics chief, declined to say whether the unusual payment arrangement detailed in the article violates bar rules governing conflicts of interest. Bar spokeswoman Francine Walker said only that the disciplinary body’s investigation centers on Ticktin’s quotes in the Times article.

Ticktin said he was not aware of the most recent Bar investigation but defended the practice, saying his research indicated regulations allow attorneys to secure fees using mortgages. The Bar already had examined his retainer agreement in Tampa’s judicial district, where he also has an office, and found nothing inappropriate, he said in a telephone interview.

 “We believe it is ethical, appropriate and the only way some people will get representation,” he said.

Belief is a funny thing.

For example, I believe in unicorns, Bigfoot, and that Charlie Sheen just had an adverse reaction to over-the-counter flu medication.

Indeed, wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said "I can believe anything provided it is incredible"?

"There Go the Lawyers Again."

I've never heard of lawyers taking out mortgages on clients in order to get paid, but then I just recently got accustomed to not wearing a suit on Fridays:

“We thought, ‘Why don’t we use a bit of ingenuity to find an affordable way to represent them?’ ” said Peter Ticktin of the Ticktin Law Group in Deerfield Beach, Fla. “It’s a new model, a new paradigm.”

Foreclosure defense is a new legal specialty whose strategies and techniques are still being worked out. Mr. Ticktin, who has some 3,000 foreclosure clients, says his plan to collect fees by taking another mortgage on his clients’ properties has already been copied by other firms.

The Ticktin mortgages resemble the loans that the clients originally got from Countrywide, GMAC and other lenders. Each will be a contractual obligation with the law firm, labeled as a mortgage and structured like one, too, with the client paying a certain sum every month and using the house as collateral.

Unconventional payment structures are becoming popular in the foreclosure hotbed of Florida. Whether they yet have caught on elsewhere is unclear. Certainly, Mr. Ticktin is far from the only lawyer being forced to innovate.

“We can put in $100,000 of our time but over the length of a case be paid only $6,000 in monthly fees,” said Thomas E. Ice of Ice Legal in Royal Palm Beach.

Mr. Ice, Mr. Ticktin and many other Florida foreclosure lawyers typically receive a few hundred dollars a month from each client. To supplement that, they seek legal fees from the banks they successfully challenge as well as contingency fees.

Contingency fees are standard in cases in which the client has little money but there is the possibility of a large payout. A slip and fall on a store’s wet floor or a medical malpractice claim are classic contingency cases. If the plaintiff wins, insurance companies ultimately foot the bill.

In foreclosure cases, however, the client pays the contingency fee. While such an approach is sometimes used in commercial litigation, this is a first for consumer cases, said Lester Brickman, a professor at Cardozo Law School in New York.

“For a lawyer to supplement or replace the banks as a long-term mortgage creditor of homeowners leaves me a little queasy,” said Mr. Brickman, an expert on contingency fees. “It’s an invitation for the public to say, ‘There go the lawyers again.’ ” 

  Of course lawyers should get paid for their work, and these are cash-strapped clients who badly need legal assistance.

But I wonder if there are conflicts created by such arrangement.  Does anyone know if  the Bar has approved of this?