Foreclosure Combating In Courthouse

Foreclosures waves are lashing the country. Ohio is one of the worst hit pockets. The majority drowns under the onrush but there are some who go down fighting. Richard Davet and wife Lynn put up a stiff fight when he was served with a foreclosure notice in 1996. He drowned the courts with papers for 11 years but finally had to give up his house of 20 years for failing to make timely mortgage payments. His case is a record of sorts in Cuyahoga County – the epicenter of the foreclosure storm. Davet however has not given up hope. He is trying to get the house back together with damages relying on a recently given legal argument that a financial body can only file a foreclosure case if it can prove that it holds the original mortgage papers. Foreclosure proceedings are generally routine. There are professional companies assigned the task swiftly wind up the matter within few months to a few years to effect the eviction of the owners. Hardly anyone has the time, energy or funds to contest foreclosures.

Recently the mood has changed and house owners are beginning to stand up. By filing for bankruptcy they delay foreclosures on the very eve of the auction. Otherwise they flatly refuse to open the door to receive a foreclosure notice. Lawyers are coaxed with fees to delay and drag the matter. However Davet’s is an exceptional case – a case that has made many sit up and start thinking. A federal court is now repeating the points he had raise a decade ago!

In 1978 Davet had bought the house for $150,000 and when the value increased they took a loan against it. In one instance they tripped in making payments and was slapped a late fee of $4,000. When Davet refused to pay it the bank declined to accept their regular mortgage payments and sued for foreclosure. At that point Davet owed $80,000 as principal and $160,000 on a second mortgage. Davet insisted on the late fees being wrongly charged.

Initially lawyers helped Dravet but when he filed a motion to disqualify a judge, he found him alone. Undeterred he carried on as a pro se litigant. He industriously studied law four times a week. His briefs were sparkling with colourful analogies to football matches and snide comments on the Enron fiasco. He tried everything to delay the shut out.

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