Assisting those facing foreclosure.

November 2010 — In the summer of 2008, Legal Aid, a partner in the statewide foreclosure prevention program “Save the Dream,” held foreclosure trainings for attorneys throughout Northeast Ohio. After a session in Geauga County, Court of Common Pleas Judge Forrest W. Burt approached Legal Aid staff attorney Thomas Mlakar.  Judge Burt expressed interest in establishing a foreclosure mediation program for Geauga. This conversation led to a series of meetings between Legal Aid, Judge Burt and his colleague Judge David L. Fuhry. Lake County Common Pleas Judge Eugene A. Lucci also joined the effort to establish programs in the area. Legal Aid collaborated with partners in both counties and offered input on the proposed rules and forms.  Now the communities have programs with part- or full-time mediators hired by the courts.  And the mediation programs are making a difference.  Marley Eiger, supervising attorney at Legal Aid’s Painesville office, used to average about one foreclosure case each year – now she annually handles close to eighty. Ms. Eiger calls mediation a “godsend,” observing, “[Homeowners are] panicking, they’re afraid of what they’re facing. If they didn’t have this program, they would be stuck with dealing things on their own – the lender is somewhere else in the country.  The notices and terms are inconsistent. It is totally bewildering.”  Mr. Mlakar, says the programs are a “win-win” for communities: “We see results in negotiation that may or may not happen in litigation. Our average on resolving cases through our litigation program is forty to fifty hours; we get the same results in mediation in about four to five hours. That should be an impetus for judges to have a program for people who may not have a defense, but now are in a position to pay and cure this.”  Mr. Mlakar also credits Judge Mary Jane Trapp, Presiding and Administrative Judge of Ohio’s Eleventh District Court of Appeals, for her support.  Adds Ms. Eiger, “We joined forces to save people’s homes – not just our clients’ home, the value of homes in these communities. The mediation program effects the community and the soundness of the economy.”