From Florida Today:

Already facing overloaded dockets of criminal and civil cases, Florida’s court system is getting hit by a deluge of foreclosures that could tie up the state’s legal system for years to come, according to nationally prominent lawyer.

 “It’s Florida’s Category 5 foreclosure hurricane,” said Kendall Coffey, a legal expert and author of “Foreclosures in Florida,” a book he discussed during a Space Coast Tiger Bay Club dinner in Cocoa Beach.

“Collateral damage can be seen in every sector of life,” he said. “The collapsing real estate market inflicted waves of unemployment, massive losses in the financial and real estate industries, and an untold human cost for the families forced out of homes auctioned at public sales. The mortgage meltdown has also battered local governments with a deteriorating tax base.”

There are 368,000 pending home foreclosures in the state, and that number could double by 2016, Coffey said.

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