Saturday, November 29, 2008

Partnership Deal Results In 78 Year Old Connecticut Man's Eviction From Home, Losing Farm & 50% Interest In Property; Now Living Out Of Car

In Greenwich, Connecticut, the Greenwich Citizen reports:
  • After 43 years of operating Purdy's Farm on King Street, Delmo Zanette effectively became a farmer without a farm at midnight Oct. 31. Not by choice -- at least by his account.

  • The 78-year-old Zanette was ordered to vacate the property by court order resulting from a legal battle that began four years ago and ended on Oct. 7 when the court finally ruled against him and in favor of Ronald Pecunies and Arthur K. Watson Jr. - his business partners and now adversaries in the case.

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  • "I was 100 percent owner of the farm and somehow they got hold of 50 percent of my real estate," said Zanette in a phone interview this past week with the Greenwich Citizen. "I was too trusting, I did not have a lawyer I trusted them implicitly ... but somewhere things didn't go right."

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  • Zanette says with the closing of the farm, he is now surviving on income from his monthly Social Security check of $574 and hopes to raise additional money by having tag sales of antiques and a collection of some farm artifacts and books he owns. Despite having some family in the area, Zanette says he is living out of his Suburban and periodically on the couches of family and friends. [...] Currently, Zanette is still 50 percent owner in the properties, which are now on the market with Weichert Realty, listed for $2.6 million.

For more, see A Farmer Without a Farm: What to Do?