A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases

While the Obama administration prepares to unveil on Wednesday its plan to rescue the U.S. housing market, officials here in Lee County have come up with their own unique plan for dealing with the crisis. To clear a huge backlog of foreclosures, judges are hearing "rocket dockets" of nearly 1,000 cases a day and calling retired colleagues back to the bench to help ease the workload.

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Many defendants in Fort Myers are speculators who never lived in the houses and don't bother to show up for the hearings or respond to court summonses. But some of the homeowners who do come to court are annoyed that they're given only a few seconds to speak to the judge.

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Lee County judges say they are trying to screen for cases that would benefit from mediation, but Chief Judge G. Keith Cary opposes making such a requirement. "A guy hasn't paid his mortgage in over a year,'' says Judge Cary. "What's there to talk about?"