What is amazing about this win, is that it took place long after sale, long after evictions proceedings had been tried and tried again. Good Going Legal Aid!
Hello Neil,
Per our conversation yesterday, I just wanted to let you know that I won my court case today for the Unlawful Detainer against me. My Legal Aid attorney argued that they recorded the deed after the Notice to Vacate, when it should have been the other way around. My attorney came well-prepared, and argued the case quite well. The attorney for the lender on the other hand didn’t come prepared to go to trail. He met with my attorney out in the corridor prior to the hearing, and basically barked out at her “why are we even here??” He offered my attorney a deal, in as much as “a decent amount of time for me to move out”. Plus … he was willing to drop the monetary damages against me. Apparently, they’re seeking $50 per day since the date they’ve “owned” the property. I have to admit, it was somewhat tempting to just take the deal and get this whole nightmare over with. But my gut told me to go to trial. Win or lose, I’d rather go down fighting.
And if it weren’t for you, I’d never have gotten this far. Had it not been for your relentless work on the mortgage meltdown crisis, I’d never have known what was really going on behind the scenes. For example, in my case GMAC is the one to whom I’d been paying my mortgage, and they’re the ones who foreclosed on me. They were also the ones who bought it back at auction, or so I thought. New York Bank is the one who’s trying to evict me, and it’s their name now on the title. My attorney told me that GMAC was simply the “service provider” for New York Bank all along. Now … I’d never heard any mention of this entity before now. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d take them to be the proverbial undisclosed third party.
So if nothing else, I just bought myself another 6 to 8 weeks here. They now have to go back and file another Unlawful Detainer, serve me with papers [I won’t make it so easy on them this time]. Plus, I’d file another Answer Form giving me another court date, which in itself took several weeks. I filed my Answer on July 10th, and the hearing wasn’t until today. So I’d say I’d have until about the end of October at this point, if the same timeframe applies to the next round. I’m sure they’ll try to expedite it a bit this time, in fact I’m sure they probably filed it at the courthouse right after the trial.
I was also fortunate, in that the judge seemed like a very nice guy. He wasn’t some old grump, but a younger guy. He really dug in and researched things on his computer, read briefs and cases handed to him by both sides, etc. It really was a fascinating process to observe, perhaps had I not been the one on trial. But if nothing else, it’s costing them money to pay for their attorneys, and to file the Detainer again. I wish I could take credit for today, except that I just sat there like a statue next to my attorney, sitting up straight with my hands politely folded on the table. I didn’t have to say one word the whole time, except for sincerely thanking my attorney afterwards.
I know this isn’t over, but I did win this round. And so now, I will gladly come up to your seminar next week. As you said yesterday, perhaps there’s more we can do now with the additional time. If I can get an attorney better-versed in TILA and such, otherwise I’ll do my best to learn how to defend myself pro se. But in any case, I want to sincerely thank you as well, for all your ongoing help and guidance. Not just to me, but to all the others out there whom you’ve helped thus far. I’ve come to know a few of the posters from your blog, and it never hurts to know someone in your same situation.
Anyway … thank you again, Neil. And I look forward to meeting you next week up in Santa Monica.
Steve Cisko
Filed under: CDO, currency, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Mortgage | Tagged: foreclosure defense, foreclosure offense, Unlawful Detainer |
does defence applie to rental properties.
jjagannath
Are you kidding ? This stuff is gold if applied correctly. I’d love to get a motion to set aside my foreclosure, pending the discoveries of my mortgage audit. I need to find out more about how to go about this. These guys are getting away with major-league fraud.
glad to hear aboutt someone else fighting back, this website has been helpful to me also. i am awaiting a response to the information they requested from me. the judge did say i should file for a set aside, since i was not being represented by an attorney.
This is my post above actually. I won this round on a technicality, but a win is a win. Hopefully it’s bought me more time to go after them on more substantial grounds. I did have a mortgage audit done, and they’re going after the lender for mortgage fraud and deceptive lending practices. Just hang in there and keep trying, you never know what can happen.