Overwhelmed Illinois Court Postpones Foreclosures Until September

[Robbien]

Source: Housing Wire

Citing a backbreaking caseload of foreclosures, the court serving the nation’s second-most populous county has decided to postpone most foreclosures until September, while it attempts to work through tens of thousands of existing filings. Cook County, Illinois is home to Chicago and surrounding areas — and is also traditionally a foreclosure hotspot.

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Under the administrative order from Presiding Judge Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird, most foreclosure cases filed this year in Cook County will be suspended until the end of August, while the court schedules a series of hearings on all foreclosures filed prior to 2009 that remain unresolved. The only exception to this rule that will allow a foreclosure to proceed is any case where a property has been verified as both vacant and abandoned, according to the administrative order.

The court said it will begin scheduling a series of so-called “calendar calls” on existing foreclosure cases during the months of July and August, during which time all foreclosures will be paused in order to allow judges to focus on prioritizing an existing caseload.

The challenges being faced in Cook County mirror the challenges being faced in numerous courtrooms, particularly in hard-hit California and Florida. Attorneys in both states suggested to HousingWire that case delays can run well into the months in most cases, in certain jurisdictions.

One attorney warned that the problem might be set to get worse, as Congress looks to pass legislation that would allow so-called “cramdowns” of mortgage debt during a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing. “If they think the caseload is bad now,” he said, “what are they going to do when borrowers flood the system with BKs, looking for a loan mod? Who will be able to manage that?”

Read more: http://www.housingwire.com/2009/04/16/overwhelmed-illinois-court-postpones-foreclosures-until-end-of-august/

[antimatter98]

1. ..and Obama continues to hand trillions to the banks..no help for people. n/t

[saigon68]

2. The banks are too big to fail

</sarcasm>