Sunday, June 05, 2011

BofA's Refusal To Pay Court-Ordered Attorney Fees In Failed Foreclosure Leads To Bank Branch 'Raid' By Cops Seeking Asset Seizure To Satisfy Judgment

In Naples, Florida, the Naples Daily News reports:
  • Warren and Maureen Nyerges know how difficult it can be to get Bank of America’s attention. When the lending giant mistakenly attempted to foreclose on the couple’s cash-purchased Golden Gate Estates home in 2010, they spent weeks on the phone and in court before the case was dismissed.
  • A judge ordered the bank to pay $2,500 in attorney fees for the couple’s troubles. Yet after five months and even more phone calls, neither the bank nor its local counsel had paid.
  • Friday morning, the couple opted for a different tactic. Media in tow, their attorney arrived outside a Davis Boulevard branch of the bank with deputies, a moving company and the court’s permission to seize branch assets. “I’m either leaving the building with a whole bunch of furniture, or a check or cash or something,” the attorney, Todd Allen, vowed.(1)
  • It was a scene that turned the foreclosure crisis on its head, if briefly. Collier County sheriff’s deputies entered the bank shortly after 9 a.m., located the bank manager and presented him with a court writ and a familiar choice: Pay the money or prepare to lose possessions.

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  • Shortly after 10 a.m., the movers drove away from the parking lot. Allen entered the bank, was told that a check had been cut to deputies and watched as officers exited the bank soon after. He wasn’t immediately told the amount of the check, but an agency spokeswoman later said it was for $5,772.88. Of the total, $685 is slated for Sheriff’s Office fees, including the movers. The purpose of the amount remaining after the judgment, some $2,587.88, was not immediately clear.

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  • Allen said that after leaving the bank on Friday, he was contacted by the bank’s new counsel, Florida Default Law Group. The case isn’t over, Allen indicated. He said he’ll seek for the bank to cover his own attorney fees. “If Bank of America doesn’t pay it, we’ll be back doing this again,” he said.

For more, see Tables turned: Bank pays up in mistaken foreclosure case.

For the video, see WINK News: Tables Turn: Deputies and movers show up at bank to seize property for homeowner.

(1) Allen is associated with The Law Office of Conrad Willkomm, P.A., Naples, Florida.