A piece I wrote last week about Tampa Bay foreclosure defense attorney Mark Stopa has attracted what could be unwanted attention from the top judge in Pinellas/Pasco County civil court.

Judge Thomas McGrady summoned yours truly to his office this morning and gently, but pointedly, objected to Stopa's technique of delaying foreclosures by filing motions to dismiss lenders' lawsuits.

McGrady described a court system that's drowning in foreclosure cases. Just three years ago 12 judges who deal with foreclosures handled about 800-1,000 open cases. These days each judge juggles about 3,400 cases.

So McGrady clearly didn't appreciate attempts to gum up the works further. He said foreclosure cases are rarely dismissed, and lawyers who use the tactic have little chance of succeeding. Even if the lender's case is thrown out, they almost always refile. "It's just a stall," McGrady said.

The judge went further. While appreciating that lawyers need to make a buck, he recommended most home owners NOT hire an expensive defense attorney if their goal is simply to postpone repossession of their house. The calendar is so jammed that many people wouldn't be thrown out of their homes for more than a year after they stopped paying their mortgage.

In fact, many of the delays stem from the lenders themselves, McGrady said. Banks are so gorged with confiscated real estate, they're reluctant to take homes back, particularly if it means assuming indebted homeowners' tax and homeowner association bills.