Lawyer? What Lawyer? Condo Owner Protests Costly ‘Representation’

Wondering why his mortgage foreclosure case was taking such a long time to conclude, a Florida condominium owner called the lender.

The answer: Attorney Bruce Harlan had been fighting the foreclosure on Alejandro Salazar's behalf for a year, even though Salazar says he had never heard of the attorney, reports the St. Petersburg Times.

As a result, Salazar contends, another $30,000 or so in mortgage-related interest, legal fees and costs have been added to the amount he and his wife allegedly owe to Deutsche Bank.

Harlan confirms that he listed himself as Salazar's lawyer, the newspaper says. Harlan explains that he was asked to do so by a woman who acquired a deed to Salazar's condo in the Westchase Community Association in Tampa after it pursued a separate court action over a lien for $546 in association fees that Salazar also had not paid.

Harlan says he has been helping the woman, who is a real estate agent and lives in the unit, attempt to settle the Deutsche Bank foreclosure case by paying $50,000 for the unit—a considerable discount from the $137,000 that Salazar allegedly owes on the mortgage, the Times reports. The short sale they sought of the unit would also have helped Salazar, Harlan contends, because it would not be as big a negative on his credit report as a foreclosure.

An e-mail from a relative Salazar authorized to act for him before moving to Spain with his wife seemingly OK'd his representation of Salazar in the foreclosure case, Harlan tells the newspaper. But "if I had to do it over again, I would have asked for a letter of authority from Mr. Salazar.''

Through another attorney he hired to represent him, Salazar sought $30,852 from Harlan to cover what he contended are the costs of him of the unwanted "representation," threatening to go to authorities if he wasn't paid, the newspaper article states. In response, Harlan called this demand "extortion" and withdrew from the foreclosure case earlier this month.

Salazar has complained about the situation to the state attorney general's office.