Maryland Homeowner Loses Home To Foreclosure Without Prior Notice Of Sale; Now Fights To Get Back Title

The Washington Post recently ran a column on Anne Arundel County, Maryland homeowner Joyce Griffin, who is currently involved in a court battle to keep her home after it was sold in a foreclosure sale in which she asserts she received no prior notice of. One of the points highlighted in the column is that in the State of Maryland, proof that a homeowner behind in mortgage payments received a notice of foreclosure is not necessary to proceed with a public sale. In this case, Ms. Griffin asserts that she had no notice of the sale and only found out about the foreclosure after the public auction had already taken place. An excerpt from the column:

• Maryland law requires only that banks send notice of foreclosure. There is no requirement of proof that the notice has been received. Griffin maintains she never received a foreclosure notice. "For every other kind of lawsuit, there is a requirement that notice is received, except for foreclosures," said Phillip Robinson, an attorney with the nonprofit legal aid group Civil Justice, who is helping Griffin fight her foreclosure in court. "How many other people in Maryland are being foreclosed on this Christmas that don't even know about it?"

Reportedly, she has been able to stay in her home by reason of a $13,000 appeal bond that was put up in court on her behalf, and which keeps her from being evicted, pending the result of her appeal.

For the column, see The Pain of Foreclosure (For Joyce Griffin and Thousands of Others Who Face Losing Their Homes, Sadness and Uncertainty Overshadow a Season of Cheer).

For more on this story:

1. Go here for a description of the pending case in Griffin v. Bierman, et al. in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, as described by one of Griffin's attorneys, Public Citizen Litigation Group,
2. Go here to view the appellate brief filed on the homeowner's behalf, Griffin v. Bierman, et al.,
3. For earlier post, see Maryland’s System for Home Foreclosures Tramples Due Process, Argues Appeal.