Maryland High Court To Hear Case Of Family Who Lost Home In Foreclosure Despite Making Every Payment

The Baltimore Sun reports:

• "The Maryland Court of Appeals has agreed to hear arguments in the foreclosure case of Kwaku Atta Poku, the Columbia cab owner who lost his home after refinancing, despite making every mortgage payment. [...] Gerald M. Richman of Ellicott City, one of Atta Poku's lawyers, said the court will 'determine whether or not you have a right to appeal a foreclosure action.' "

• "Another issue is whether a home can be foreclosed on when the lender has exclusive control of the funds to pay off the mortgage. Atta Poku never had possession of the settlement check involved in the 2001 refinancing that later resulted in foreclosure. He could not prove the mortgage was paid, however, because a bank lost the original check. The Court of Appeals said a hearing will be scheduled in December after submission of legal briefs, according to an order received Friday by another of Atta Poku's lawyers, Scott C. Borison of Frederick, a foreclosure specialist."

• "Atta Poku, 55, a naturalized American citizen originally from Ghana, was unable to prove in court that the loan was paid, as he insists it was, partly because the financial institutions involved lost some of the documents. Although no one -- including Washington Mutual -- has blamed him for the alleged default, he lost the house, has ruined credit and his AAAA Star cab business was damaged. The family of five, including his wife and three children younger than age 5, is being aided by a small cash fund administered by Columbia's Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, and by Congregations Concerned for the Homeless, a Howard County nonprofit group that rented a three-bedroom townhouse last week for the family to sublet."

For more, see Court to hear foreclosure case (Decision in appeal by Howard Co. man could affect similar cases).

Links to earlier Baltimore Sun articles on Kwaku Atta Poku.

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