Thursday, April 28, 2011

Bank Apologizes Profusely After Changing Locks On Foreclosed Home In Violation Of Court Order

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
  • Keon Williams' fight to keep his house has taken another strange twist: The Milwaukee man arrived home Monday night to find that the locks had been changed on one of his doors on orders from Harris Bank, even though a court order says he can stay in the house for now.
  • "They admitted they had sent somebody to change the locks," Williams' lawyer, Geoffrey Gnadt, said after an emergency court hearing Tuesday. "They did apologize profusely - but there are costs."

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  • Completion of [the foreclosure] sale was stayed by a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge until May 12 after Williams explained the situation in court. Yet when he got home early Monday evening, he was stunned to find new locks and a note from a property management company on the side door of the house. The front door was inexplicably left unlocked.

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  • Harris Bank's lawyer told Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Brash at Tuesday's hearing that the locks had been changed in error, Gnadt said. Harris' lawyer apologized for the snafu and agreed to cover the cost for Williams to have a new lock installed. The bank will also pay Williams' attorney fees and any other costs incurred because of the mistake, according to Gnadt and court records.

For the story, see Harris Bank mistake results in replaced locks (Man fighting to keep house after Central States' collapse left him with 2 mortgages).