Reply #150: Did GMAC Try to Bury Its Foreclosure Smoking Gun? [View All]

[flyarm]

Did GMAC Try to Bury Its Foreclosure Smoking Gun?
The deposition the lender really, really doesn't want you to see.

— By Andy Kroll

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/did-gmac-try-bury-its-foreclosure-smoking-gun

read the whole story...

snip:

Then, in mid-June, Cox says, something odd happened. GMAC fired the local attorney who'd handled the case up to that point and replaced her with counsel from a powerful white-shoe firm, Pierce Atwood. The new firm's first move was to accuse Cox of violating Maine civil court rules by distributing legal documents that caused "embarrassment, annoyance, oppression, and intimidation" of GMAC and Stephan. (GMAC's attorneys say Cox sent the deposition directly to the Florida blog, which he denies.)

The firm demanded financial sanctions against Cox totaling thousands of dollars. And it asked the court to make Cox retrieve the deposition from blogs and website, effectively yanking it off the Internet, and prevent him from further sharing the deposition or using it in any other GMAC-related cases. Cox fired back by saying he had every right to share the deposition. Blocking his use of the document violated his First Amendment rights, he argued.

Gina Proia, a GMAC spokeswoman, denied that the company was trying to "silence" Cox. "The pleadings in that case speak for themselves, and any attempt by Mr. Cox to characterize the pleadings in an inflammatory fashion are categorically disputed," she said in a statement.

After reviewing GMAC's plea to the court, Duke University law professor Tom Metzloff, a civil procedure expert, was skeptical about the mortgage company's claims. He says the American legal process tends to favor openness over blanket secrecy. Only in cases where a deposition contains trade secrets or highly personal information (the contents of a divorce case, for instance) do individuals or companies get to block it from becoming public. Whereas GMAC looks like "they're trying to close the barn door after the horse has gotten out," Metzloff says. "It looks like they're trying to do a little damage control."