A judgment against the Boca Raton-based Fidelity Land Trust Co. clears the titles of hundreds of homes statewide that were signed over to the firm in what the Florida attorney general says was a foreclosure-rescue scheme.

The company had acquired about 100 homes in Palm Beach County before being shut down by the state in September 2012. It once boasted having more than 250 properties statewide.

While an attorney generals civil case against multiple connected defendants continues in Broward County, the December judgment against Fidelity rescinds all deeds signed to the firm and declares them null and void. The judgment was filed in Palm Beach County official records last month.

Fidelity told struggling homeowners it could cancel their mortgages through a complicated legal maneuver that involved suing their lender after the homeowner signed their deed over to the firm. Fidelity also offered borrowers new mortgages through an affiliated company.

Fidelity made false and deceptive or unfair promises and representations to consumers in order to induce consumers to transfer title to their homes to Fidelity for no consideration and to pay Fidelity thousands of dollars in advance fees for services that could not be delivered, the judgment says.

The Palm Beach Post first reported about Fidelity Land Trust in June 2012, noting in subsequent stories that it had been given title to properties that ranged from a million-dollar Boca Raton mansion on the Intracoastal Waterway to a $60,000 condominium west of Floridas Turnpike.

After the attorney general froze its operations and assets, the firm began signing deeds back to its former clients, but real estate lawyers said it was important to get a court order clearing the titles.

Having them sign a deed back wasnt sufficient because the attorney generals order said everything was frozen, said Alan Polin, a Boca Raton attorney who filed a lawsuit against Fidelity in April 2013 on behalf of former Fidelity clients. Someone could come back and make the point that the deed was invalid because they legally couldnt be operating.

In May 2013, Polin got a judges order to release the couples home from the asset freeze and void the quit claim deed signed over to Fidelity.

The damage done by these scams is not only to the consumers who are taken by them, but to the justice system overall because it muddies the water for other consumers and judges as to what constitutes a legitimate defense to foreclosure, said Royal Palm Beach-based foreclosure defense attorney Tom Ice.

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Clouded titles cleared in land trust case

Indonesians Pray for Rain as Haze Shrouds Riau Province
Residents of Indonesia #39;s haze-covered Riau province pray for rain, and protest against the local government for not preventing land clearing and forest fires...

By: NTDTV

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Indonesians Pray for Rain as Haze Shrouds Riau Province - Video

Haze Worsens in Indonesia #39;s Riau Province, Airport Extends Closure
Haze caused by illegal land clearing worsens in Indonesia #39;s Riau Province, and airport operations remain suspended. Full Story: An international airport in I...

By: NTDTV

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Haze Worsens in Indonesia's Riau Province, Airport Extends Closure - Video

A representative for villagers living in Ratanakkiris OChum district who say that buyers from a local company failed to uphold a 2007 land deal has been charged and temporarily detained by local authorities for allegedly destroying private property.

Haing Noeur, 50, was detained on Saturday after plantation owner Ly Sok Ngim filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that Noeur burned timber destined to build huts on his land, said Chhay Thy, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc.

That land dispute involves 66 families and Ly Sok Ngim, but authorities did not intervene, and the workers keep clearing the forest on the disputed land. There is no other option but burning down the material to stop the clearing, Thy said.

In March, an Adhoc investigation revealed that Seng Visith and his wife, Sek Sopheak Soeur Monea, who together owned a majority share of the now bankrupt VKM Company, promised to give villagers $20,000 and to build bridges, roads, schools and a village hall.

The investigation also revealed that former owners of the 400 hectares in dispute were in debt to Sok Ngim. A court ruling in February transferred five properties including the 400 disputed hectares to Sok Ngim.

Workers employed by Sok Ngim have been clearing the community forest unabated since early March, according to Chhay, claiming that the area had been awarded to Sok Ngim by Judge Luch Lao.

Both sides in this case, the community villagers and Ly Sok Ngim, have filed lawsuits against each other over the illegal land grabbing but the court only takes action against the simple citizen, Chhay continued, adding that efforts to provide legal aid to Noeur were under way.

District police chief Hak Lao confirmed yesterday that authorities arrested Noeur on Friday for allegedly burning 10 cubic metres of wood.

He poured gasoline [on the wood] and burned it down and dismissed the workers. We arrested him based on the law, Lao said.

Neither Judge Luch Lao nor Sok Ngim could not be reached for comment yesterday.

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Villager rep held over burning firms timber

A bill authored by U.S. Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Rep. Rick Nolan, D-Minn., to give the go-ahead on a land exchange between the Fond du Lac Band and Carlton County is set to become law after clearing both the Senate and the House.

The legislative fix, passed in the Senate late on Thursday and expected to be signed into law in the near future, will let the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Carlton County perform a key land swap. The exchange, according to the Democratic lawmakers, is beneficial to both the band and the county, letting them manage their lands more effectively.

This land transfer is important to both the Fond du Lac Band and to Carlton County the band supports this, the county supports it, and the Department of Interior supports it, said Sen. Franken.

This long-awaited agreement is the right thing to do for both the Fond du Lac Band and Carlton County, Klobuchar said in a news release.

This long-awaited exchange helps rectify the broken 1854 treaty between the Fond du Lac Band and the federal government by returning original land to the Band to construct much needed housing, Nolan said in a news release. In return, Carlton County will receive non-reservation land now owned by the Band, opening up valuable new timber and forestry resources.

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Land exchange bill set to become law

CH Property Service Land Clearing service Durango, Co
Clearing willows with 262c Cat skid steer with grapple attachment.

By: chproperty

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CH Property Service Land Clearing service Durango, Co - Video

Rat-infested river bank owners accuse Bolton Council of trespassing

11:46am Friday 14th March 2014 in News By Jeremy Culley, reporter

THE owners of a rat-infested river bank besieged by fly-tippers have accused Bolton Council of trespassing on their land.

A long-running legal row between the council and 91-year-old Tom Taylor, whose Cardiff-based daughter Caroline Taylor, aged 60, owns the land, has stalled the clean-up operation.

The land, just off Croal Street, resembles a landfill site after mountains of putrid waste, bin bags, beer cans, old toys and furniture were dumped illegally.

Bolton Council is investigating the fly-tipping and hopes to make prosecutions but insists Mr Taylor is responsible for clearing up the waste.

The council uses his land to access the underside of the bridge and installed a gate into a wall in Croal Street in 2005 without informing Mr Taylor, who bought the land in 1982.

A spokesman for the council said it can use the land under section 291 of the Highways Act 1980, and that this use gives it no responsibility to clear up the waste.

Mr Taylor disputes this and claims the wording of the act which gives councils the right to access land on, over or under their own property, which the bank technically is not renders them guilty of trespass.

The council first wrote to Ms Taylor in July, 2010, and informed her of its use of the land in April 2011 .

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Rat-infested river bank owners accuse Bolton Council of trespassing

News Desk

The Straits Times

Publication Date : 14-03-2014

The air quality in parts of Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia continued to deteriorate sharply yesterday as a result of open burning and land-clearing bush fires in the face of an unusual dry spell.

People in Selangor, particularly, were left choking as the Air Pollutant Index (API) soared yesterday, and Klang authorities have ordered schools to close today.

Reports said Port Klang recorded a "very unhealthy" API reading of 203 as at 1pm. Twelve other areas, including Kuala Lumpur and other major towns in Negeri Sembilan and Malacca, recorded readings of between 113 and 145.

API readings of 0-50 are considered good, moderate is from 51-100, unhealthy is 101-200, very unhealthy is 201-300 and levels exceeding 300 are dangerous.

Officials here blamed the worsening haze on open burning in Malaysia, with the director-general of the Meteorological Department, Datuk Che Gayah Ismail, disclosing that more than 600 open burning spots were recorded nationwide on Wednesday.

"Yes, the smoke and haze are still caused by us," she told the Malaysian Insider website yesterday. "If the wind direction changes now, we will be in trouble. The haze will be much, much worse if that happens." She also said the wind direction made it impossible to blame Indonesia for the unhealthy air quality in Malaysia.

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Haze gets worse in Malaysia, Indonesia

Stop Illegal Land Clearing in Cameron Highlands
Journalist: Prethy Naidu Cameraman: Naveen Silvongala Visual Editor: Naveen Silvongala Producer: MIC TV.

By: MIConlinetv

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Stop Illegal Land Clearing in Cameron Highlands - Video

JAKARTA, March 13 (Bernama) --- Thick haze from land-clearing bushfires in Riau province of Sumatra led the closure of a main airport in the province on Thursday, China's Xinhua news agency reported an official as saying here.

The decision to halt operation of Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport was made by airliners following the worsening of feasibility that impaired operations, said transport ministry Bambang spokesman Ervan.

"The airliners decided to stop the airport operation today ( Thursday), tomorrow and the day after tomorrow as the feasibility is very short, it is only 400 meters," Ervan told Xinhua by phone.

"The resumption of operation would be done once there is a certainty" on the improvement of air quality particularly feasibility, he said.

Days prior to the closure more than 60 flight schedules had been aborted as thick smog worsened feasibility, according to Transport Ministry E.E. Mangindaan.

The thickening haze has also worsened air quality in the province, and the number of people suffering from respiratory trouble increased to a staggering 42,000, according to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of national disaster agency.

Indonesia has scrambled to extinguish blaze in the bush as farmers or companies make way for plantations in Riau province, home to the world's largest palm oil industry. Satellite observation on Tuesday detected 145 hotspots in the province.

Indonesia has been battered by land-clearing bush fires since the 1990s, as the haze engulfed neighboring Asean countries and caused losses of several billion US dollars.

-- BERNAMA

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Haze Forces Indonesian Province To Shut Down Airport