Beware the Telephone Hearing

In another tip to those of you fighting foreclosure yourselves: beware the telephone hearing.

Yesterday, I heard from someone fighting foreclosure on her own that she agreed to a telephone hearing with the judge and opposing counsel because she was in Tucson and the attorney representing the bank was in Phoenix.

There are a couple of reasons I think this is a bad idea. First, you have no way of reading the judge’s body language over the phone. Judges are just like the rest of us — if the people appearing before him were annoying, this might carry over to your hearing and if you’re on the phone, you might miss non-verbal cues that could help you know when to talk and when to keep quiet.

Second, the attorney representing the bank will ALWAYS try to talk over you. Clearly, these attorneys have training and a lot of experience and they have an advantage over you. Be strategic about what you’re doing and don’t give them any advantage over you — you’re already at a disadvantage!

I’m not sure if you can object to opposing counsel’s appearance by telephone — in this case, the attorney didn’t want to drive to Tucson. I think if I were this person, I would have done what I could to make him show up, even if it was an inconvenience for him. I would want my day in court, but there might be times when you might not want them to show up for strategic purposes.

Anyway, what do you think? Has this happened to you? Let us know!