Foreclosing Lender Screw Ups When Seizing Collateral Not Limited To Homes As Boat Repo Firm Twice Takes Wrong Vessel - Once With Owners On Board

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• A Fort Lauderdale company that claims to be the biggest boat repossession firm in the world has run into trouble for twice seizing the wrong vessel, once with the owners inside. Walter and Joann Dethier were in bed in their 40-foot Magnum sport cruiser, tied to a Key Largo marina, when they heard thumps as electric power lines were disconnected from the marina and tossed on deck. Running out of the cabin, Walter Dethier saw a boat towing them from shore. He jumped onto the dock, and with the help of a neighbor, a retired police officer, successfully challenged the five repo men, who lacked the proper papers. The boat had no liens on it, and when they called the police, the repo crew ran off. Two months later, at home in Connecticut, the couple got a call from the marina manager saying their boat was being taken again.

***

• The company admits fault, and the Dethiers, outraged at National Liquidator's failure to take elementary precautions before seizing a boat, as well as what they say is $20,000 in damage to the boat's hull and electrical systems, have retained a lawyer and filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "They're totally out of control," said Walter Dethier, 65, who had been trying to sell the boat for $289,900. "They're operating as vigilantes. My wife won't sleep on the boat anymore."

• The Monroe County Sheriff's Office investigated and advised the arrest of the repo team leader, Jason Barroncini, for criminal mischief. But the [state] attorney's office said it should be handled in civil court.

For more, see Couple's boat wrongly repossessed twice by National Liquidators. ForeclosureLockOuts