Michigan Servicemember Loses Home To Illegal Foreclosure, Says Lawsuit

The Detroit News reports:

• "When Sgt. James Hurley of the Michigan National Guard returned from the war in Iraq in December 2005, he found someone else living in his home. Hurley's lender had foreclosed on his mortgage while he was serving overseas and put his wife and two children out of the house in Hartford, in western Michigan, according to a complaint filed this month in U.S. District Court in Detroit."

Reportedly, a foreclosure and sale on a mortgage secured by home owned by someone while on active duty in the military is prohibited under the Federal law now known as the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act. Michigan attorney Matthew R. Cooper, who is representing Hurley in the lawsuit, claims that the foreclosure and sheriff's sale happened even though the lender was notified that Hurley was on active duty in Iraq and that the Hurley's financial situation was as a result of being on active duty.

For more, see Servicemen battle money troubles too (Michigan soldier's loss of home to foreclosure illustrates financial strain of being sent overseas) (no longer available online).

For copy of the civil lawsuit filed in Detroit Federal Court, see Complaint - Hurley vs. Deutsch Bank National Trust, et al.

Go here for other posts on the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.