# "Foreclosure mill" law firm hosts homeless themed party **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 30, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251 "2011-10-30T03:31:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/1 "2011-10-30T03:31:14Z")
You know, because making fun of people forced out onto the streets is fucking awesome. Anyway, here’s the story: [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/opinion/what-the-costumes-reveal.html?scp=2&sq=nocera&st=cse](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/opinion/what-the-costumes-reveal.html?scp=2&sq=nocera&st=cse) > [@](#): > > I can’t tell you how people dressed for this year’s party, but I can tell you about last year’s. > > That’s because a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against… > > Let me describe a few of the photos. In one, two Baum employees are dressed like homeless people. One is holding a bottle of liquor. The other has a sign around her neck that reads: “3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served.” My source said that “I was never served” is meant to mock “the typical excuse” of the homeowner trying to evade a foreclosure proceeding. > > A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out. A sign on the coffin reads: “Rest in Peace. Crazy Susie.” The reference is to Susan Chana Lask, a lawyer who had filed a class-action suit against Steven J. Baum — and had posted a YouTube video denouncing the firm’s foreclosure practices. “She was a thorn in their side,” said my source. > > A third photograph shows a corner of Baum’s office decorated to look like a row of foreclosed homes. Another shows a sign that reads, “Baum Estates” — needless to say, it’s also full of foreclosed houses. Most of the other pictures show either mock homeless camps or mock foreclosure signs — or both. Fuck these assholes. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/2 "2011-10-30T03:48:14Z")
Its just their way of coping with the tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/3 "2011-10-30T04:05:55Z")
You find this on Google+ under Wil Wheaton’s post also? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/4 "2011-10-30T04:26:01Z")
> [@SlickRoenick](#): > > You find this on Google+ under Wil Wheaton’s post also? I originally saw it on Gawker. Anyway if you click on the link in the OP, you’ll see some of the photos mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/5 "2011-10-30T04:36:56Z")
If there is any justice in this world, lawyers who run foreclosure mills, collection agencies, and personal injury class-action lawsuit factories will spend their afterlife in the newly-constructed 10th Circle of Hell, where they will be forced to sit through endless robocalls threatening somebody they’ve never heard of who may or may not have had their number six years ago; commercials where constipated-looking actors promise financial compensation if you or someone you know have ever taken a drug or had an operation; and forced to read thousands of pages of densely-written legal boilerplate each day, with hourly quizzes for comprehension. They can share this Circle of Hell with Bernie Madoff and the gang from Enron. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/6 "2011-10-30T05:34:26Z")
Yeah, with crappy food, Fox news playing loudly and constantly, and channels full of lame infomercials, bedbugs, and lots of mosquitoes that can’t be killed. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/7 "2011-10-30T05:43:15Z")
> [@anya\_marie](#): > > Yeah, with crappy food, Fox news playing loudly and constantly, and channels full of lame infomercials, bedbugs, and lots of mosquitoes that can’t be killed. And that one itch you get between your shoulder blades you JUST CAN’T REACH! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/8 "2011-10-30T05:44:07Z")
OK, they can have some NPR. But its always Pledge Week. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/9 "2011-10-30T06:32:54Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > OK, they can have some NPR. But its always Pledge Week. And no matter how much they donate, they never ever ever get the tote bag. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/10 "2011-10-30T07:30:13Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > “A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out.A sign on the coffin reads: “Rest in Peace. Crazy Susie.”” Is it just me who thinks this sounds like a threat towards Susan Chana Lask? If I was suing someone, and heard they’d made an effigy of me with my eyes cut out and what effectively seems like a deathwish, I’d be more than a little freaked out. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/11 "2011-10-30T13:14:00Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > OK, they can have some NPR. But its always Pledge Week. And _Fresh Air_ is the only thing on. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/12 "2011-10-30T13:39:46Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And _Fresh Air_ is the only thing on. With Terri Gross interviewing Terri Gross! Yet again I’m puzzled why so-called intelligent people did not think this was going to be picked up by the media. Either they aren’t so intelligent or they are so evil that they just don’t care how heartless they come across. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/13 "2011-10-30T13:49:24Z")
> [@anya\_marie](#): > > Yeah, with crappy food, Fox news playing loudly and constantly, and channels full of lame infomercials, bedbugs, and lots of mosquitoes that can’t be killed. And the constant need to take a monster shit, but unable to find a working toilet, or toilet paper for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/14 "2011-10-30T13:51:31Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > And the constant need to take a monster shit, but unable to find a working toilet, or toilet paper for that matter. No, they’ll have a working toilet, but it’ll be in a nasty, stinky bathroom and have John Wayne toilet paper.\* \*It’s rough, it’s tough and it don’t take shit off of nobody! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/15 "2011-10-30T14:14:33Z")
Okay, fair dos to all for compiling a fitting _apres vie_ punishment lineup, but how does all that stuff comprise justice in THIS world? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/16 "2011-10-30T14:20:42Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And _Fresh Air_ is the only thing on. :mad: Take…that…back. Now. I adore Fresh Air. At least when it’s Terri Gross and she’s talking about politics or war or something else that matters. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/17 "2011-10-30T14:26:12Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > With Terri Gross interviewing Terri Gross! > > Yet again I’m puzzled why so-called intelligent people did not think this was going to be picked up by the media. Either they aren’t so intelligent or they are so evil that they just don’t care how heartless they come across. I think they are under the impression that most people think like them. At least, that’s been my experience when I’ve encountered people who are completely shameless about their abhorrent views. And, I don’t really care for Terri Gross, either. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/18 "2011-10-30T15:13:49Z")
It’s extremely tasteless, but what especially aggravates me about this is the sheer arrogance and tempting of fate. This firm is being investigated because they’re involved in the very shenanigans that have called into question the legal status of millions of properties in this country - robosigning, backdated notarizations, sketchy documentation, use of MERS, etc. They seem to think property law and civil procedure don’t apply to them, that everyone they foreclose on is simply stalling for time by utilizing the nettlesome legal defense of “PROVE you have the title to my property,” and this gives them carte blanche to ignore the law. This law firm became the dominant foreclosure mill in New York precisely because their contempt for the law and procedure allowed them to run these through the system in assembly line fashion, with little regard for the people they were acting against. Here’s hoping that Eric Schneiderman’s office sorts them out. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/19 "2011-10-30T15:29:32Z")
I’ve been street homeless, but this doesn’t bother me, its called gallows humour. I haven’t really got a lot of sympathy for the many who bought properties that they knew that they’d never ever realisticly be able to pay for, but were either hoping to sell it on in a short time to make a quick profit , or more bizarely just didn’t think beyond the first few payments. And I don’t buy the whole “its all the vendors fault”, as adults they’re supposed to have an adults responsibilty. I haven’t recently bought any penis enlargers, cess pits, or herbal Viagra over the internet lately; even though I’ve received some amazingly good offers. That said I do honestly feel the deepest sympathy for those who had what they thought were safe jobs, and whos pay actually could afford the mortgage, but who’s employment was crashed out unexpectedly. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251/20 "2011-10-30T15:32:45Z")
My love for Terry Gross is only eclipsed by my love for Diane Rehm. But I turn them both off during pledge week. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreclosure-mill-law-firm-hosts-homeless-themed-party/601251.md?page=2)