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JUDGE RAPS CITY ON SLOW RECORDING AND FAVORITISM

Nov 26, 1997

by Earni Young , Daily News Staff Writer

The Philadelphia Department of Records' apparent nonchalance over an ongoing backlog of roughly 50,000 real estate documents waiting to be recorded rankled the judge.

Most disturbing to Common Pleas Judge Gene D. Cohen was the department's policy of giving special treatment to members of the mayor's staff and to friends of City Council members who did not want to wait like everyone else had to do.

The idea bothered Cohen so much that he not only ordered the city to clear up the backlog within six months, but said it was never again to give anyone special treatment to have documents recorded out of turn.

Such an act violates state law, which requires documents to be recorded in the order in which they are submitted, and the judge said he would deal harshly with the city if it were to happen again.

The decision came yesterday in response to a 10-month-old lawsuit by the Pennsylvania Land Title Association , seeking to force the city to comply with state laws requiring mortgages, deeds, liens and other real estate documents to be indexed and recorded ``promptly.''

The city admits that it has been far from prompt in its recording duties, running as much as 18 months behind in recording documents before trimming the backlog to the current five months.

Chief Deputy City Solicitor Michael Eichert and Records Commissioner Joan Decker declined to comment on the judge's order and whether the city planned to appeal.

Speaking for Mayor Rendell, Kevin Feeley, deputy mayor for communications, said the city was surprised by the order given the progress the department has made on the backlog in the past year.

As for the ban on special treatment, Feeley said that is not a problem.

``It's our understanding that there were two occasions [of this] over the last five years,'' Feeley said. ``This is not a common practice. . . . and we will comply with the court order.''

PLTA attorney Edward Hayes was jubilant at the easy victory that came without the plaintiffs having to call a single witness during the four-hour hearing.

The records department backlog is a problem that dates back to 1990, and the city had no valid defense to offer for its continued failure to comply with several state laws.

``The law requires documents to be immediately looked at and examined upon receipt and the city lets them sit around for six to eight weeks after acceptance before looking at them,'' Hayes said.

Title insurers rely on the county records to determine if there are outstanding liens against a property before insuring it, a virtually impossible task given the backlog of unrecorded documents.

Cohen gave the city until Dec. 23 to submit a written plan on how to resolve the current backlog within six months and make sure that it will never recur.

Cohen said he would also issue a written admonition to Mayor Rendell regarding the special treatment issue.

The information regarding ``specials'' was revealed in depositions given by Decker and Deed Recorder Herbert Smith.