MD Homeowner Barely Beats Statute Of Limitations; Scores Triple Damages Of $700K After Being Screwed Over In Sale Leaseback, Equity Stripping Ripoff

In Baltimore, Maryland, The Maryland Daily Record reports:

• An Ellicott City woman was awarded $700,000 [...] after falling victim to a foreclosure rescue scam. The judgment in favor of Susan Spicer includes $460,000 in non-economic damages, an amount Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Cavanaugh doubled from the $230,000 he calculated in economic damages under the guidelines of the Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act.(1)

• Jane Santoni, Spicer's lawyer, said Spicer's experience was a "classic" one that the law was designed to target. "People do have recourse," said Santoni, of Williams & Santoni LLP in Towson. "When you have a strong law in place, you have a fighting chance."

• Spicer and her husband took out a mortgage on her Catonsville property in October 2004 in order to pay some bills, according to the complaint. Spicer fell behind on her payments in 2005, and her lender, Royal Financial Services LLC in Owings Mills, began foreclosure proceedings that fall.

• Royal Financial is an affiliate of New Towne Properties LLC in Owings Mills, which is operated by Robert Hurd, according to the complaint. Hurd called Spicer the day before the foreclosure sale and told her "he could keep her in the home if she could come to his office the next day to sign some papers," according to the complaint.

• Hurd told Spicer that if she paid rent for one year, she could stay in the house and then "revert back to the original mortgage," the lawsuit states. Spicer deeded the house over to Royal Financial for $42,000, less than $200,000 of its value, the lawsuit states. The lease agreement called for Spicer to pay $775 a month, more than twice as much as her monthly mortgage payments, the complaint states. New Towne ultimately sold the home to someone else for $265,000 in the summer of 2006, according to the lawsuit and state property records.

• Spicer was forced to move into a basement-floor apartment, Santoni said. "It was devastating to her," she said. Judge Thomas J. Bollinger Sr. granted the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment in May, leading to Monday's damages hearing. Cavanaugh awarded Spicer nearly $231,000 in economic damages, the difference between the value of the house and what Spicer owed plus the rent she paid and the $1,200 she paid Hurd to complete the deed transaction, Santoni said. The judgment also includes $10,000 in attorney's fees. Hurd did not return a phone call [] afternoon seeking comment.

• Santoni said Spicer was pleased with the judgment, particularly since Spicer filed the lawsuit the day the statute of limitations expired in 2008 because she had a "fatalistic" outlook. "She felt she finally had somebody to listen to her," Santoni said.

Source: Real estate scam victim awarded $700K under foreclosure law (paid subscription required; if no subscription, TRY HERE - courtesy of FindArticles.com).

(1) In this case, the screwed-over homeowner opted to seek monetary damages as compensation for being ripped off in lieu of attempting to unwind/undo the scam. In some cases, homeowners may opt against monetary damages as the remedy and, instead, seek to restore title to the home in their name. In this regard, they seek a judicial determination voiding the title conveyance altogether, along with invalidating the new mortgage obtained by the foreclosure rescue operator (or straw buyer) in the course of pulling off the equity stripping manuever. See, for example, Maryland High Court Revives Ex-Owner's Attempt In Civil Lawsuit To Undo Metropolitan Money Store Sale Leaseback Foreclosure Rescue Home Equity Ripoff.