Long Island Civil Courts Downed by Foreclosed Homes

Foreclosed homes are devastating not only homeowners and lenders, but also civil court judges who have to review the foreclosure cases before lenders can take further action.

Long Island, which comprises the New York boroughs of Queens and Kings and the suburban counties of Nassau and Suffolk, is home to courts being inundated with foreclosure filings.

Michael Scardino, chief clerk of Suffolk, said before foreclosed homes became a major problem, it took the civil court an average of one year to complete a foreclosure case. Now, he said, a foreclosure takes from 18 months to 2 years to finish.

Rick Clarke, a retired Suffolk deputy chief clerk, said that before he retired last year, he had handled thousands of foreclosure cases. Basically, what a judge does in a foreclosure case is to review a lender’s request to repossess and sell a home that is not being paid by the homeowner.

Based on data from the New York Office of Court of Administration, a total of 7,100 new real estate foreclosures were filed in Suffolk civil courts last year, the biggest figure among all counties in the state. In all the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Queens, foreclosure filings tripled since 2005.

Civil courts are courts where banks, other businesses and consumers settle their disputes, and any delay in the resolution of the disputes not only affects the opposing parties but also business conditions in the state.

Suffolk Judge H. Patrick Leis explained there are not enough judges to process quickly all the cases continuously being filed in the civil courts, such as personal injury cases, divorces real estate disputes and foreclosure cases. Leis said every state judge in Suffolk is currently handling more than 900 civil cases, and 25 percent of these involve foreclosed homes.

Todd Yovino, owner of Island Advantage Realty, said there are more foreclosed homes in Suffolk than in other New York counties because the county has a lot of low-priced single family houses. In the 1990s, he said, many properties owned by middle-class homeowners became foreclosed homes; it is again happening now as job layoffs and other economic downturn effects reduce homeowners’ capabilities to pay their loans.

Under a newly-enacted state law, civil court administrators have been holding mandatory meetings between lenders and homeowners whose houses are in danger of becoming foreclosed homes. During the meetings, lenders and homeowners try to reach agreement on whether borrowers would repay the arrears, agree to a short sale or remain in the foreclosed homes for a little longer until the foreclosure properties are sold to new homebuyers.