Mark Whitney Lapham

I retained Mark Lapham in 2013 after being referred to him by an acquaintance of a friend of a friend in attempt to save my home that was illegally foreclosed on. I was told that he specialized in foreclosures and was desperate to save my home and to get the unlawful foreclosure sale reversed. Mr. ...Lapham assured me that my family and I would be able to stay in our home while the case was in litigation, no matter how long it took and for free to boot. Being that I was desperate and under complete emotional duress during all of this, my mother lent me the $4,000 retainer down payment. The first red flag that I caught but overlooked, again being under duress and desperate, was that he had me wire the $4k in funds to his personal marketing company "DM" and not to his legal "trust" account. Again, I had been told he specialized in foreclosures and with his smooth talk reassurance that we'd be able to stay in our home no matter how long it took in court, I went ahead and deposited the $4k to his DM Marketing account via Bank of America. It should of dawned on me that this guy was a schmuck when he had another person calling me to gather as much info. on my modification application and pertinent info. Turns out Mr. Lapham was using an unlicensed (but soon to be) consultant who's niche was unlawful foreclosure. The consultant was very knowledgeable but it was Mark Lapham who was responsible for filing the civil lawsuit against CitiMortgage, my mortgage lender. A few days later after depositing the funds into his account at B of A, I was served with an unlawful detainer by the real estate investor who purchased my home at the foreclosure auction (that by the way, was NOT supposed to happen since I was still in loan modification application status--that the lender MADE me apply for). When I notified Mr. Lapham of the UD I had been served with via regular USPS mail, he informed me that he was ONLY handling the "civil" lawsuit against CitiMortgage and told me that if I wanted him to represent me on the UD, that he'd need an additional $1,500.00. He knew that I was at my wits end, under duress and that I had already borrowed the initial $4 grand from my mother and had the audacity to ask me for more money. I responded by reminding him that he had "assured" me that we'd be able to stay in the house while in litigation, no matter how long it took. Wasn't it safe to assume that litigation would include the UD since that's normal protocol on a foreclosure situation like mine? I mean, after all , this guy supposedly specialized in foreclosures? Long story short, the end result was I lost my home, the judge didn't want to hear anything I had to say and ordered my family and I out in 5 days---after owning and living there for nearly 14 years. To add insult to injury, he only refunded a small portion of the $4,000.00 I had given him and that wasn't even enough to put a down payment or first months rent on an apartment.