In More Evidence That Judges Have Had it With Banks, Yves Smith points to Phillips v US Bank, N.a., Sup Ct Carroll Cty Ga.20111102, which (assuming it is real), can only be called a epic dismissal of a complaint.
Recent Bluessky Posts- Cell phones got invented well into my adulthood. I have cell phones in my dreams sometimes, but they never work or I can never dial them properly, because if they did or if I could that would solve the problem the dream is about. December 25, 2025 Michael Froomkin
- Sounds like this would help with grading? December 25, 2025 Michael Froomkin
- One of the most amazing and affirming things I've ever read online. There is hope for us all. December 25, 2025 Michael Froomkin
- Today, 1.25 million kids will spend the holiday without their parent because of mass incarceration. December 25, 2025 Prison Policy Initiative
- It's a Christmas Eve news dump. In normal circumstances, probably about the best time of the year to get the least attention. But it won't work here. December 24, 2025 Michael Froomkin
I was struck by the complete lack of legal citations in the order. That makes me skeptical that the order is real.
The lack of legal citation in an order is nothing new in state court practice. What stuck me as unusual is that the Judge would have written an order at all. If state court practice in Georgia is anything like it is here, the motion would have been heard in open court, the judge would have issued a verbal tongue lashing, the parties would have walked outside and hand-written a vanilla order with no findings of fact or legal citation, and the judge would have signed it without reading it.
As for a bank denying modification, I have handled a hand full of foreclosure cases on the defense side, and have spoken to lawyers who handle dozens (if not hundreds) of these cases. The consensus seems to be that there are two standard answers when the defendant asks for a modification: 1) “No because you make too much money and never should have fallen behind,” and 2) “No because you don’t make enough money and you can’t afford any reasonable modification.”