Lawrence Marks, chief administrative judge of the state of New York, testifies before the commission Oct. 16, 2017.

A group of New York City legal services providers are urging the Office of Court Administration to implement further measures to protect low- and moderate-income homeowners of color in foreclosure actions, as court operations resume following pandemic-related shutdowns.

In a June 24 letter to Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks, Legal Services NYC and 12 other legal-advocate organizations said they expected a surge of foreclosure actions as moratoriums and forbearance agreements meant to protect defendants are set to expire in the coming months.

The impact of that spike, Legal Services NYC said, would be particularly severe for lower-income minority communities, which have historically used the foreclosure process to "extract wealth from New York City's communities of color."

Among the proposed changes, the letter called for improvements that would connect homeowners with legal services providers for settlement conferences and give pro se litigants greater access to court filings in e-filed cases.

"Given the well-documented severity of the pandemic and associated economic impact on New York City's low- and moderate-income communities of color, which also bear the brunt of the economic dislocation associated with the pandemic as they did during the foreclosure crisis, it is especially important that the judiciary plan for resumption of foreclosure activity deliberately and with sensitivity to the particular need of litigants in these cases," Jacob Inwald, the director of Legal Services NYC's foreclosure prevention unit, wrote in the nine-page missive.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the organization said it had not yet received a response from Marks or his staff.

A spokesman for the OCA said that the office was reviewing the letter and new housing legislation to determine "what potential policy changes might be required."

"We expect to have some further guidance sometime next week," he said.

Inwald said that in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis that resulted from the 2008 economic recession, advocates had secured a "host of consumer protections" for homeowners, including required notification before a foreclosure action is started, as well as mandatory settlement procedures that connect litigants with free legal services and give defendants additional opportunities to answer complaints.

In an interview, he said that Legal Services NYC was engaged in an "ongoing dialogue" with Marks about general concerns over the adjudication of foreclosure actions amid the judiciary's push to expedite cases.

However, more attention needed to be paid to the needs of unrepresented litigants who may not have access to remote services during the pandemic.

"We find that the judiciary needs consistent reminders that the world doesn't look like the people they usually interact with," Inwald said.

"Our biggest concern is that as the cases resume, they don't just go back to their old ways. The cases are going to be more severe now because we don't have the same ways to connect to clients," he said.

For presettlement conferences, Legal Services NYC proposed virtually replicating courthouse clinics that have connected homeowners with legal services providers to prevent the foreclosure process from reverting to "rubber-stamp" functions that result in home losses. Defendants, the group said, should be given uniform notices about the purpose of the conferences and their options for participating remotely.

The letter also urged courts to provide sterile spaces and equipment for litigants to appear remotely, and no defendant, it said, should be hit with a default for failing to appear.

It also called for pro se protections that would not require defendants to file papers in county clerks offices or to appear for a return date during the pandemic, "forcing litigants to choose between protecting their health and preserving their legal rights." The courts, Legal Services NYC said, should continue to adjourn all motions in cases involving pro se litigants, and discovery deadlines should be postponed indefinitely.

Inwald said that as foreclosure cases start to resume, a "new pipeline" of actions was expected "to mushroom in the coming months," and the courts urgently needed a plan in place connect those underserved defendants with legal representation and to preserve their rights.

He said, "What we're hoping for is to at least have a seat at the table."

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