I am awash in epicaricacy right now.

Yes, yes...the tears of the participating employees sustains me.

/not funny when someone loses their home
//Hilarious when the lawyer and his douches lose everything.

"That is how I like my irony served, my friend"

Magorn: Oh John? Mr. Lennon? I think this is your cue:


Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love
What on earth you tryin' to do
It's up to you, yeah you

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna look you right in the face
Better get yourself together darlin'
Join the human race
How in the world you gonna see
Laughin' at fools like me
Who on earth d'you think you are
A super star
Well, right you are

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

When other attorneys complain about your "lack of sensitivity" you've really gone the extra mile :)

I'm sure the 690 employees affected by this are laughing their heads off at the bad banker guy getting his due, or whatever.

ZAZ: Is this a real shutdown, or a prelude to reincarnation as Trust-Me-It's-Not-Baum Foreclosures?

Look at the bright side. The administrative staff was getting paid too much anyway. Now the attorneys can start fresh with a new firm and a staff that's ready to work instead of throw parties.

The Loaf: I'm not normally big on Schadenfreude but I'll make an exception in this case.

I'm not a big drinker, but dammit, I think I'll get myself a nice beer tonight and tip a drink to those sick farking assholes.

And I learned a new word today: epicaricacy

*does a little dance*

nicoffeine: I'm sure the 690 employees affected by this are laughing their heads off at the bad banker guy getting his due, or whatever.

I'm sure they were just following orders. That completely exonerates them of all guilt or responsibility.

nicoffeine: I'm sure the 690 employees affected by this are laughing their heads off at the bad banker guy getting his due, or whatever.

FTFA: And it's been vilified by advocates, other attorneys, politicians and even judges for submitting sloppy and allegedly fraudulent paperwork that is riddled with legal errors, including faulty affidavits and notarizations.

Yea, it's one person getting his due. *rolls eyes*

Pelvic Splanchnic Ganglion: nicoffeine: I'm sure the 690 employees affected by this are laughing their heads off at the bad banker guy getting his due, or whatever.

I'm sure they were just following orders. That completely exonerates them of all guilt or responsibility.

Really. Nazis. Yeah. Just like those guys.

From another article:

"Disrupting the livelihoods of so many dedicated and hardworking people is extremely painful, but the loss of so much business left us no choice but to file these notices," said Mr. Baum in a statement issued on Monday.

Hmmm... let's see what was said about Baum's crappy practices after a settlement with the U.S. attorney's office.

"In mortgage foreclosure proceedings, there are no excuses for sloppy practices that could lead to someone mistakenly losing their home," Preet S. Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement at the time of the settlement.

Yes, this is delicious irony, karma, schadenfreud, etc.

ZAZ: Is this a real shutdown, or a prelude to reincarnation as Trust-Me-It's-Not-Baum Foreclosures?

Sadly you are probably spot-on.

Oh sweet,dead on kharma.

Car_Ramrod: nicoffeine: I'm sure the 690 employees affected by this are laughing their heads off at the bad banker guy getting his due, or whatever.

FTFA: And it's been vilified by advocates, other attorneys, politicians and even judges for submitting sloppy and allegedly fraudulent paperwork that is riddled with legal errors, including faulty affidavits and notarizations.

Yea, it's one person getting his due. *rolls eyes*

Ok, IT. IT is getting IT's due.

Damn IT.

IT is getting what's coming to IT. "What is IT?" you may ask.

IT's IT.

I'm not sayin' it's karma


But it's Karma

The Loaf: I'm not normally big on Schadenfreude but I'll make an exception in this case.

//this

That firm and that attorney specifically are pretty much known as yambags in the Buffalo area, and I guaran-damn-teeya that scores -- nay, HUNDREDS -- of other law firm staff are laughing their asses off at this news. And calling those lenders and agencies to snake that business so they can do it even sleazier.

or a prelude to reincarnation as Trust-Me-It's-Not-Baum Foreclosures?

That one.

I'm glad this has happened, you hear me, GLAD!

But, now that it has, all that assholery that was concentrated in one spot will disperse through corporate America. That may not be a good thing.

/especially if it's contagious
//I wonder what their Fark handles are?

TheTurtle: The Loaf: I'm not normally big on Schadenfreude but I'll make an exception in this case.

//this

triple slashie THIS

Photo from the Halloween party:



They went under due to unscrupulous practices, which led to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refusing to send them any more business. Good riddance to bad rubbish. That these vultures call themselves law firms is disgusting. They're lower than literal ambulance chasers.

I had one of these "law firms" calling me repeatedly looking for someone who'd left a bogus number. They didn't seem to comprehend that "Paul Torres" didn't live here, never lived here, and I didn't know a Paul Torres. I had to actually send them a cease and desist letter to get them to stop calling.

Car_Ramrod: From another article:

"Disrupting the livelihoods of so many dedicated and hardworking people is extremely painful, but the loss of so much business left us no choice but to file these notices," said Mr. Baum in a statement issued on Monday.

Hmmm... let's see what was said about Baum's crappy practices after a settlement with the U.S. attorney's office.

"In mortgage foreclosure proceedings, there are no excuses for sloppy practices that could lead to someone mistakenly losing their home," Preet S. Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement at the time of the settlement.

Yes, this is delicious irony, karma, schadenfreud, etc.

Wow. That first quote is enough to get someone a C0ckpunch buffet! The sheer filth dripping off of each syllable, the coal oil of years of dedicated, pressurized disregard for others, greed distilled into a rank syrup that pumps through the wallet this guy carries in place of a heart...astounding.

I hope being a former employee of Baum makes every last one of them damaged goods that nobody will hire.

/twists knife.

//quickly running out of sympathy for the douchnozzles actually participating in destroying the country bit by bit.

Bohemian: I hope being a former employee of Baum makes every last one of them damaged goods that nobody will hire.

/twists knife.

//quickly running out of sympathy for the douchnozzles actually participating in destroying the country bit by bit.

Buffalo is a pretty damn small town when it wants to be, and yes, many of them will be tainted. There were partners at certain firms who either had to leave the profession, leave the area or start their own practice because their rep was questionable enough.

That said, the staff are kinda fuXX0red, since it was the principal (Baum) who set the tone of the place and hey, any job in Buffalo is better than nothing. They just didn't have to embrace his douchebaggery quite so closely.

scottydoesntknow: nicoffeine: I'm sure the 690 employees affected by this are laughing their heads off at the bad banker guy getting his due, or whatever.

If those 690 employees had any brains in them (which they don't judging by how badly the company was run in all areas), they would've seen the writing on the wall months ago and started to look for other areas of employment. Instead they chose to ride the train all the way to the end.

So, they should just get a job. Cause, you know, opportunity and stuff.

Bohemian: I hope being a former employee of Baum makes every last one of them damaged goods that nobody will hire.

/twists knife.

//quickly running out of sympathy for the douchnozzles actually participating in destroying the country bit by bit.

Having worked Baum will give them credit in that job market.

So all the..

"the firm has been criticized for participating in "robo-signing" and allegedly improper foreclosures, with critics saying it helped speed up foreclosures to benefit its lender clients by allegedly authorizing the "assignment" or transfer of mortgages from one lender to another when critics say it lacked authority to do so. And it's been vilified by advocates, other attorneys, politicians and even judges for submitting sloppy and allegedly fraudulent paperwork that is riddled with legal errors, including faulty affidavits and notarizations."

Was one thing...

but wearing insensitive Halloween costumes, that's just going too far? Is that like getting Al Capone for tax evasion?

Is there a link to the earlier Fark thread? I would amuse me to see their Fark apologists now. TX

Steven J. Baum is shutting down his foreclosure law firm and laying off as many as 90 full- and part-time employees in Amherst and Long Island just days after losing the bulk of his business when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stopped giving him new work.

Something similar happened to my brother for entirely different reasons. He's a real-estate attorney, and he was doing foreclosure work for BofA for years, until it became a large part of his business. BofA was contracting with him because he was a smaller, local firm and it was easier for those kinds of firms to work out who actually owned the mortgage, help them with readjustments, and in general stay in better contact with the people who were getting foreclosed on.

Anyway, BofA ran an internal study and found that regional foreclosure firms that had no personal contact with the homeowner closed out cases faster, despite the fact that their record for readjustment was in the basement. So, BofA quit contracting with smaller firms and instead began using nationwide regional firms to clear out their backlog faster.

It almost put my brother out of business. He ended up laying off all of his staff (13 people). He's still representing people against BofA who were irked that they didn't get to deal with him for their foreclosure, but the bulk of his business is just gone, and everyone is suffering for it. He was actually quite proud that he managed to get mortgage readjustments at a higher percentage than the nationwide average, but that just helped put the nail in his coffin. There's no reward for being a good guy in business these days.

Just for the record, this douchebag, like most of his sort, inherited his daddy's business rather than bootstrapping one up himself.

I'm pleased to see he ran it into the ground.

Sabyen91:
jeffowl: So all the..

"the firm has been criticized for participating in "robo-signing" and allegedly improper foreclosures, with critics saying it helped speed up foreclosures to benefit its lender clients by allegedly authorizing the "assignment" or transfer of mortgages from one lender to another when critics say it lacked authority to do so. And it's been vilified by advocates, other attorneys, politicians and even judges for submitting sloppy and allegedly fraudulent paperwork that is riddled with legal errors, including faulty affidavits and notarizations."

Was one thing...

but wearing insensitive Halloween costumes, that's just going too far? Is that like getting Al Capone for tax evasion?

You know the straw that broke the camel's back doesn't have to be the heaviest straw, right?

Also... I think the Halloween party showed the difference between "amoral" and "actively malicious". Screwing people over is a fine old tradition in American business. Openly mocking them for it later is generally avoided.

It boggles the mind that the firm's lower employees (99 percenters all) were doing this too. But I guess anyone with any decent principles left the firm long ago. I couldn't stomach working in a place like that no matter how much I needed the money.

Sabyen91:

You know the straw that broke the camel's back doesn't have to be the heaviest straw, right?

My point is this, if they were as bad as people were saying, Fannie and Freddie should have stopped using them long ago. The party shouldn't enter into it.