Judges are starting to "Get It"

What keeps us going here? Spending days interacting directly and indirectly with homeowners who are under such duress, in danger of losing so much, honestly I must confess it weighs on Neil and I some days. We understand it is not just a “piece of property” or an “asset,” but that the “home” is a refuge for most people …the fabric of family and emotional security are intertwined often across three generations of parents, children and grandparents. The emotional impact on marriages and the “children of foreclosure” will last long after the financial impact has been resolved.

Our mission with the blog was originally to “spread the message” that the securitization scheme of recent years had opened up numerous affirmative defenses and potential counterclaims that could be asserted that didn’t exist in the last century. The genius’ on Wall Street forgot that the asset we are dealing with here is “Real Property.” Black letter law that has been on the books for a hundred years nothing new and fancy, the Uniform Commercial Code(UCC). Getting the message and the information out to both homeowners and lawyers is part of the objective, providing tools and a forum for them both to use has spawned a movement here that could not have been imagined a year ago.

Our mission with the Lawyers Workshops was to surface those lawyers who “get it” so we would have local counsel to refer homeowners to for competent representation. It has always been our position that you should have representation by licensed local counsel. However, we cannot ignore the fact that the current system necessitates some homeowners represent themselves because of either financial limitations or the inability to find any lawyer that would take their case even if they could afford to pay them.  Likewise, we too are dedicated but not rich, hence the “Donation Forms” you find posted on the blog site. What keeps us going? Some days it is getting emails like those below:

Hello Gentleman,

I just wanted to send you an email and let you know what the judge said at court Thursday. At first I did ask for a continuance. The attorney for “Ocwen” objected and said I had plenty of time. The judge asked about the situation she said it was a simple “unlawful detainer”, I said it was not a simple situation. He asked if it was due to foreclosure she said “yes”…December 27, 2007. He asked me, and I explained to him that “they” had contacted me, “they” stopped my payments, and then foreclosed while I was waiting to get the paperwork in line……….He asked who “Ocwen” was, she didn’t seem to know the answer, she was representing REO Properties….( I knew, but kept my mouth shut…her confusion was beautiful) ….The judge said…So you don’t even know if this company is still in business? They could be closed up by now. Given the way these things have been sold and sliced up and resold it’s hard to tell who owns this thing. This note could be in a box somewhere with hundreds of other notes, or sitting on “someone’s” desk somewhere…we don’t know. Given the current state of this country’s economy I will grant your continuance, I don’t want to put a judgment on you if you have a case here. It seems if there weren’t something to this, they would have had you out by now.

Thank you for all the help and encouragement! Keep up the great work.

Wendy Kirby

And another from Charlotte in Alabama

Mr. Garfield

I read somewhere on your site sometime back “Do Something” because there is no question what will happen if you do nothing. That’s when I made up my mind that regardless of the circumstances, I was going to fight and file something. With no money, no resources, no help, unable to afford to pay an attorney, I wrote up my own filing, using one of the filings archived on your site as a model. I modified it to fit my situation and I drove to Birmingham and walked into Federal Court and filed it. In addition, I filed a separate motion for TRO to temporarily stop the sale. I sued the originator, Ameriquest Mortgage, the foreclosing attorney, the loan servicer, Citi Residential, the “Trustee”. Because I have no job, no money and few resources, I was allowed to waive the filing fees. The Judge immediately scheduled a hearing for my motion for TRO and instructed me to immediately notify all the parties. Since it was short notice, the Judge instructed me to call or fax them, or use any means at my disposal, but I needed to notify them immediately, because the hearing was on the calendar. ONLY THEN did Citi Residential and the foreclosing attorney actually call me on the phone, pleading with me to take the hearing off the calendar.

The bottomline is the livinglies.wordpress.com has given me the courage and fortitude I needed to arm myself with the information I have needed to defend myself, and the guidance I have needed to go this alone. It also gave me the confidence to believe in my fight. I am not a deadbeat. I have worked hard all my life, and I don’t believe I deserve to lose my home.

Along the way I have made a few errors. Like for instance filing in the wrong court: not understanding how to state a claim in your filing can get your case thrown out. I have made mistakes because I am doing this on my own and don’t fully understand all the nuances of legal filings, pleadings and because I can’t afford an attorney. But at the end of the day my case is still alive!

I just could not proceed any further without letting you know what a valuable resource your website has been, and how much insight I have gained from it. Whether I win or whether I lose, I still have you to thank….

Readers and supporters

On this holiday weekend where many of us are either celebrating Passover or the Resurrection, we covet your prayers more than your donations for the continued success of this mission.

We “labor not for meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life”

John 6:27

All the best from our families to yours

Neil and Brad

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