Lawyer Held in Contempt for Advising Clients to Reclaim Foreclosed Home
A California judge has held a lawyer in contempt for advising his clients to reclaim their foreclosed property.
The controversial lawyer, Michael T. Pines, will have to pay $2,000 in fines and more than $34,000 in legal fees incurred by the investment company that bought the home, according to the Ventura County Star and the Housing Wire.
Judge Barbara Lane of Ventura County did not fine Pines’ clients, Jim and Danielle Earl, who moved back into their home in Simi Valley and, after an eviction, threatened to break in again. She warned that she wouldn’t be so forgiving if they repeated their “misguided actions,” according to the Ventura County Star.
Lane also criticized Pines for skipping a contempt hearing, and for filing several federal state and federal lawsuits that he later abandoned, according to the Star. Pines’ “modus operandi,” she said, is to file a new lawsuit every time his legal arguments are rejected.
