Costume Party At 'Foreclosure Mill' Law Firm Mocked Those Who Lost Homes

On Friday, the law firm of Steven J. Baum threw a Halloween party.The firm, which is located near Buffalo, is what is commonly referred to as a “foreclosure mill” firm, meaning it represents banks and mortgage servicers as they attempt to foreclose on homeowners and evict them from their homes. Steven J. Baum is, in fact, the largest such firm in New York; it represents virtually all the giant mortgage lenders, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

“There is this really cavalier attitude,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that people are going to lose their homes.” Nor does the firm try to help people get mortgage modifications; the pressure, always, is to foreclose. I told her I wanted to post the photos on The Times’s Web site so that readers could see them. She agreed, but asked to remain anonymous because she said she fears retaliation.

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.

tristen303 wrote:I don't think anything is wrong with that in fact I think it is kinda of funny; we need to be less pc.
So if I had a costume party with my friends and dressed up like lawyers and process servers with thier typical statements like the above is that wrong?

tristen303 wrote:I don't think anything is wrong with that in fact I think it is kinda of funny; we need to be less pc.
So if I had a costume party with my friends and dressed up like lawyers and process servers with thier typical statements like the above is that wrong?

tristen303 wrote:Yep I did fight and I get to watch people burn flags and all sorts of other things I find to be vile, but that's freedom. The fact the the party was at the law firm doing the work, the fact that it was a company function makes it just fine with me (and I'm in foreclousre).

Had it been in a public mall that's a different story but it wasn't. As for it being the same it is (your twists don't work) but hey on this site where the left, PC rules apply and logic flys have at it I still think it's funny and with my service I've earned that right.

tristen303 wrote:Yep I did fight and I get to watch people burn flags and all sorts of other things I find to be vile, but that's freedom.

Had it been in a public mall that's a different story but it wasn't. As for it being the same it is (your twists don't work) but hey on this site where the left, PC rules apply and logic flys have at it I still think it's funny and with my service I've earned that right.

ranbrow123 wrote:

tristen303 wrote:Yep I did fight and I get to watch people burn flags and all sorts of other things I find to be vile, but that's freedom.

People who burn flags are misdirecting their anger. It's not the country that sucks, it's the people who run it. I just wish I knew what your point was.

EDIT: Okay I guess I kind of get your point here: you're saying people burn flags and they can do it so these people can do what they want. See how you find it vile, though? Well, people on this forum found what the people at the company did as vile, too. They're allowed to do it, and we're allowed to be pissed at their tasteless display of insensitivity. Regardless, none of this changes how terrible your analogy was. =/

Had it been in a public mall that's a different story but it wasn't. As for it being the same it is (your twists don't work) but hey on this site where the left, PC rules apply and logic flys have at it I still think it's funny and with my service I've earned that right.

Blah blah blah I can't defend my opinion so I'll just attack the character of people who disagree with me and the sentiment of the majority of the forum instead. Same tristen tricks, different tristen post.

Left, right, middle, nazi, commie, it doesn't matter what you are, it is a terrible analogy. Dressing up as someone you've done no harm to (and who would be hard to mock in costume anyway considering you'd likely be wearing a nice suit) is in no way the same as mocking someone by dressing up as someone who is down on their luck because of a situation the corporation you work for has helped them get into to begin with.