By BILL KACZOR, Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Lenders will be required to pick up the tab for investigating and verifying ownership and then try mediation before foreclosing Florida home mortgages under new rules approved Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court.

The rules are designed to help Florida's judicial system better cope with a flood of foreclosures. They follow a December administrative order by Chief Justice Peggy telling local judges to adopt a uniform mediation program.

Florida has the nation's fourth-highest foreclosure rate. Almost 400,000 cases were filed in Florida's courts last year.

The rules and corresponding legal forms were proposed by a pair of Florida Bar panels.

"They found that many cases were being filed by plaintiffs that didn't' own the mortgages any more," said Miami lawyer Mark Romance, who chairs the Civil Procedures Rules Committee.

Romance said other cases were being filed against people who no longer owned the homes.

"I don't think there was any ill will or intent to harm someone," Romance said.

The investigate-and-verify rule should help prevent those kinds of errors and give judges greater authority to sanction lenders who do make false allegations, the justices wrote.

"It's just going to be another hoop to jump through," said Anthony DiMarco, executive vice president for public Affairs for the Florida Bankers Association, which opposed that provision. "It's making us find a document we're already supposed to find."

The decision was unanimous except for a rule that will require prior approval of a judge before a foreclosure sale can be canceled. Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston dissented.

Last-minute cancelations have needlessly delayed other sales, again clogging the system, Romance said.

The Bankers Association did not object to that provision, but DiMarco said borrowers and lenders often cannot reach a settlement until just before the sale date.

"It's the last chance and people get more serious at the last chance," he said.