DEPOSITION OF DOT THOMAS by Brian Korte

Transcription

1 DEPOSITION OF DOT THOMAS by Brian Korte Page: 1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 15TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA CASE NO.: 2010 CA (AW) PNC MORTGAGE, A DIVISION OF PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff(s), vs. DANIEL FRANCO,

2 Defendant(s). / DEPOSITION OF DOT THOMAS Wednesday, April 13, :30 p.m. - 3:454 p.m. Law Office of Korte & Wortman, P.A Vista Parkway, Suite 102 West Palm Beach, Florida Florida Court Reporting

3 Page: 2 APPEARANCES: ON BEHALF OF THE PLAINTIFF(S): EDWARD J. O'SHEEHAN, ESQUIRE SHUTTS & BOWEN, LLP 200 East Broward Boulevard, Suite 2100 Fort Lauderdale, Florida ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENDANT(S): BRIAN K. KORTE, ESQUIRE KORTE & WORTMAN, P.A Vista Parkway, Suite 102 West Palm Beach, Florida Florida Court Reporting

4 Page: I N D E X --- WITNESS DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS DOT THOMAS By Mr. Korte: E X H I B I T S --- MARKED FOR I.D. DESCRIPTION PAGE Deft's 1-Letter 5 Florida Court Reporting

5 Page: 4 P R O C E E D I N G S - - Deposition taken before Tracy Lyn Fazio, Notary Public in and for the State of Florida at Large, in the above cause. --Thereupon: DOT THOMAS, a witness herein being of lawful age, and being first duly sworn in the above cause, testified on her oath as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. KORTE: Q Ma'am, would you do me a favor and state

6 your name for the record spelling your last. A My name is Dorothy, D-o-r-o, Thomas, T-h-o-m-a-s. But I go by Dot, D-o-t. Q Ma'am, you were asked to come today and discuss the affidavit of mailing of Notice of Intent, correct? A Yes, sir. Q And who asked you to come here today, if you know? A Who? Q From your office. Florida Court Reporting

7

8 Page: 5 A I got it directly from the attorney. Q So I'm going to mark this as Defendant's 1. (Thereupon, Defendant's Exhibit No. 1 was marked for identification.) Ma'am, you've been handed Defendant's 1 in this particular case. Have you ever seen this document before A Yes, I have. Q When is the first time you saw it? A When I executed it. Q Let's discuss when you executed it. Did you have an opportunity to review the records of PNC Bank at the time you executed this document?

9 A Yes, sir. Q Referring to paragraph two of your affidavit, which is Exhibit 1 you're referring to. Where did you get Exhibit 1 from? A We have an archives system called OCIE, and that's O-C-I-E, all capital letters. And it stands for On-Line Computer Information Exchange. Q What does that do? A It archives -- we have an on-line letter writer system within our system of record that when we order letters, it pulls information from the Florida Court Reporting

10 Page: 6 system. And in this case with this letter, it pulls like the amounts that are due and owing. And then you put in the address that is to be mailed, the letter is to be mailed to, which in this case was sent to Bridle Lane in Jupiter, Florida. And there was a second one sent to th Court North in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Q Is Exhibit 1 a true copy of the letter that was sent out or when it was sent out it had other stuff attached to it? A This is not -- I don't know how to explain it. What happens is once those letters are mailed out, they're mailed out with letterhead -- on letterhead paper. When it goes to the archival system, the information that runs -- well, in this case down the right-hand side of it is actually the like meta-data that tells you what loan this attaches to, what letter it was actually attaches to, and the date that the letter was generated.

11 Q Would it be fair to say that Exhibit 1 is not a true and correct copy of what was mailed to the client? A No. Q No, it wouldn't be true, or no, it wasn't a true and correct copy? Florida Court Reporting

12 Page: 7 A No, it is not true. Q Well, is this a copy of the letter that was sent to the client? A This is a copy of the letter that was sent as it went to -- once it goes to our archival system. Q Do you have a copy of the actual letter that was sent to the client? A No. We do not keep those. Q Did you ever have an opportunity to see the original letter that was sent to the client?

13 A No, sir. Q So how do you know that this is a true copy of the document that was sent to the client? A Because it's on our archival system and this is the way that they go -- once they are generated, they go out to the archival system. Q Do you know the date that this letter was generated? A Yes, November 3rd, Q A How do you know that? That's the date on the letter. Q A time? But did you generate the ledid I generate the letter?

14 tter yourself? Did I -- which Florida Court Reporting

15 Page: 8 Q Did you generate the letter that we're discussing as Exhibit 1? A When the copy was made to be attached to this affidavit, yes. Q Did you generate the original letter that went out to the client? A No, sir. Q Do you have any way to compare the original letter that went out to the client to the one that's here today as Exhibit 1? A Not sure I understand what you're asking. Q Let's break this down a little better. We can both agree that the copy of the letter that went out to the client is not the letter we have in Exhibit 1. It actually had a letterhead and some other information and did not contain -A Yes, that is correct. Q That it didn't have the header and it had letterhead, correct? A Correct. Q This is not a true copy of the letter that went out. It's a copy of the content that went out with some additional information included, correct?

16 A Yes, I guess that's a fair statement. Q Since we don't have the original letter Florida Court Reporting

17 Page: 9 that went out, is there a way to compare the two letters that would have gone out to see what the differences were? A To my knowledge, there shouldn't be any differences. Q But you didn't generate the first letter that went out, right? A That is correct. Q You're assuming that the letter that's contained in the archive system actually went out, correct? A That is correct. Q Do you have any certificates of mailing that you saw that indicates this letter was actually mailed? A I don't understand what you're asking me. Q Do you have any way to track whether this letter was actually put in the post box? A No. Q Now, I noticed this letter is also not signed by anybody and there's no place for signature. Why is that? A Those letters never have a signature.

18 Q Do you retain a copy of the envelope that this letter goes out in? Florida Court Reporting

19 Page: 10 A No. Q Also in the body of the letter it says National City Mortgage is the server and owner, correct? A Yes. Q What is the relationship with National City Mortgage to the Plaintiff? A To PNC? PNC is successor by merger to National City Mortgage. Q When did that merger occur? A I believe it was November 6th, Q Were the records of National City

20 subsequently brought into the PNC system, if you know? A Since I'm not sure I understand what you're asking -- I think I understand what you're asking, but I would rather you - Q Let me re-ask it. This letter was not generated by PNC, was it? A No. Q This letter was generated by National City Mortgage? A Yes. Q And those would be the records of National City Mortgage at the time that they made them,

21 Florida Court Reporting

22 Page: 11 correct? A Yes. Q And those records were then brought into PNC at some point in time, correct? A They are the same records. It's the same archival system. Everything is the same. I worked there at that time, so I know. Q I understand. But they were the records of National City that were then brought into PNC, correct? A Correct.

23 Q That's why it says National City in the body of the letter? A Correct. Q And it was on National City's archival system, correct? A It's on OCIE. That's O-C-I-E. Q Is there a hard copy of this document somewhere? A Of which document? Q Of the OCIE system printout somewhere besides here today as Exhibit 1?

24 A No, sir. Q So no hard copy is retained by National City or PNC? Florida Court Reporting

25 Page: 12 A No, sir. Q Are you familiar with the mailing practices of National City at the time that this letter went out? A Yes, sir. Q How are you familiar with them? A I've worked closely with having to deal with mailing things myself for one thing. I've also dealt closely with our collections department and having demand letters sent out. Q You worked at National City at the time that this letter went out? A Yes, sir.

26 Q What was the mailing system for mailing out these Notice of Intent letters? A You're talking about this demand? Q Yes, ma'am, Exhibit 1. A Could you please give me a little more clarification as to what you mean by what is our mailing practices, what you mean by that. Q Why don't you take me from the time this letter is generated to the time it's put in the mail, what the steps would have been at National City. A All right. The letter is ordered through

27 Florida Court Reporting

28 Page: 13 our system of record. As I said, through the on-line letter writer system. Once that letter is generated, it is printed off. It is folded, placed in an envelope, put into the mail deposit box, which is one of those white mail bin things. And then our mail services, which is another department, picks up that mail, runs it through a stamper and a sealer, and takes it to the Post Office. Q Do you have any direct contact with the physical stuffing of the envelope while you were at National City? A I have mailed them before, yes. Q Let's talk about this one. You didn't mail this one? A No, sir.

29 Q And you didn't generate this one? A No, sir. Q And you didn't deliver this to the mail service, correct? A No, sir. Q And you didn't run it through the machine yourself? A No, sir. Q Did National City at the time keep a log of mail that went out?

30 Florida Court Reporting

31 Page: 14 A Specific envelope and -- no, sir. Q From your personal knowledge, do you have any -- let me strike the question. Do you have any personal knowledge as to whether this actual letter was printed on letterhead, stuffed in envelopes, stamped, addressed and mailed? A Do I have personal knowledge, no. MR. KORTE: Ma'am, I have no further questions for you. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. O'SHEEHAN: Q Just to follow-up on whether there's any record of mailing. A physical log isn't kept. Would there be any record kept in the, what do you

32 call it, record of system, related to this loan that this letter went? A What it will show is that the letter was ordered and printed. As far as whether or not what happened to it after that, no one logs each step of the process. Q And where will it show that? A It shows it on our system of record and it also shows it on the OCIE system. MR. O'SHEEHAN: That's all I have. Florida Court Reporting

33 Page: 15 MR. KORTE: We're done. Read or waive? MR. O'SHEEHAN: Waive. (Thereupon, the deposition concluded.) Florida Court Reporting

34 Page: 16 CERTIFICATE OF OATH STATE OF FLORIDA COUNTY OF PALM BEACH I, the undersigned authority, certify that the witness personally appeared before me and was duly sworn on the 13th day of April, Witness my hand and official seal this 21st day of April, (Signer's identity unknown) Signed by Tracy Fazio Time: :18:47-04'00' Reason: I am the author of this document and attest to the integrity of this document. Location: Boca Raton, FL Tracy Lyn Fazio Notary Public - State of Florida My Commission Expires: 1/6/2013 My Commission No.: DD

35 Florida Court Reporting

36 Page: 17 C E R T I F I C A T E STATE OF FLORIDA COUNTY OF PALM BEACH I, Tracy Lyn Fazio, Notary Public in and for the State of Florida at Large, do hereby certify that the aforementioned witness was by me first duly sworn to testify the whole truth; that I was authorized to and did report said deposition in stenotype; and that the foregoing pages are a true and correct transcription of my shorthand notes of said deposition. I further certify that said deposition was taken at the time and place hereinabove set forth and that the taking of said deposition was commenced and completed as hereinabove set out.

37 I further certify that I am not attorney or counsel of any of the parties, nor am I a relative or employee of any attorney or counsel of party connected with the action, nor am I financially interested in the action. The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means unless under the direct control and/or direction of the certifying reporter. Dated this 21st day of April, (Signer's identity unknown) Signed by Tracy Fazio <claudia@floridacourtreporting.com> Time: :18:54-04'00' Reason: I am the author of this document and attest to the integrity of this document. Location: Boca Raton, FL Tracy Lyn Fazio

38 Florida Court Reporting

39