Peter Grubea, who probably is one of the busiest bankruptcy lawyers and has the highest volume caseload in the western region of New York is being sued by Rosicki Rosicki & Associates which is one of the biggest foreclosure firms of the state. The defamation suit is over comments made by Grubea about the billing practices of Rosicki Rosicki, which drew the ire of the foreclosure firm’s owners. Apparently, during the hearing of having a client’s mortgage debt reduced, Grubea had accused Rosicki of being “engaged in the systematic overbilling of New York homeowners for all of the foreclosure-related services they provide” in the bankruptcy filing. The defamation suit filed by Rosicki in response to Grubea’s allegations, claims that Grubea’s comments were “directed squarely at destroying both the business and reputation of the plaintiffs.” The defamation suit also accused the bankruptcy lawyer of “publicly and falsely defaming plaintiffs to the whole world.”

In a March post on his website, Grubea had written that he was “currently investigating the billing practices” of Rosicki and also stated, “we believe that the charges imposed … are unfairly high.” He also solicited people to get in touch with him if they’ve dealt with Rosicki in a foreclosure case, indicating, “You may have a claim for monetary damages.” Grubea also goes forward in his post of accusing Rosicki of racketeering.

As observed by Buffalo News, “The battle between Grubea and the downstate firm illustrates what is already happening in the wake of the dissolution earlier this year of Steven J. Baum’s firm, which had been the dominant foreclosure law firm in the state for years.”

  

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In a legal memorandum filed as part of the bankruptcy petition his client Grubea wrote that Rosicki charges for “the simple filing of court documents” and also charges homeowners for serving papers on the state Tax department even if there are no tax claims. Grubea also accused that Rosicki charges homeowners for serving papers on unnecessary defendants and charges for filing service affidavits by adding “administrative” fees. In short, Grubea claims that Rosicki and Rosicki overcharges for basic service of process, overcharges for foreclosure title reports and “improperly” bills for unnecessary work even after the initial foreclosure papers have been duly filed.

One of Grubea’s claims was that Rosicki and Rosicki was not applying appropriate standards for billing. He mentioned in the legal memorandum, “The Rosicki firm is attempting to convince the court to apply downstate New York service costs to this case. However, this is not the correct standard.”

Rosicki commented that Grubea’s comments were “based upon nothing more than counsel’s speculative, hearsay allegations, and twisted legal reasoning.”