Sweet Justice for Main Street: Homeowner Forecloses on Bank of America

It all began five months ago when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, Maurenn Nyergers and her husband. Z, who didn't owe a penny on their home. They never had a mortgage on the home, as they paid cash for the house.

Eventually, the case wound up in court. The Nyergers proved they didn't owe Bank of America any money, and a Collier County, FL judge ordered Bank of America to pay the legal fees of the Nyergers. Failure one was that Bank of America attempted to foreclose on a home that never had a mortgage on it.

Failure two was that Bank of America neglected to pay the legal fees that they had been ordered to pay. More than five months after the judge's order, the North Carolina based megabank still hadn't produced the legal fees. Given the bank's behavior, which included ignoring calls and letters, Todd Allen, the homeowners' attorney, did exactly what Bank of America tried to do to the Nyergers: he seized the bank's assets.

Naturally, one can see this as a hyperbolic response, but it certainly got the bank's attention. It was also quite legal. Following the same sort of "rules" that a bank might take with regards to a homeowner, sheriff's deputies, movers, and Allen went to the bank and foreclosed on it. Allen gave instructions to the movers to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and anything else, including any cash in the drawers of the tellers.

The bank manager eventually handed Allen a check for the legal fees. Allen said, "As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice."

As noted in national media such as MSNBC, CNN, CBS, and more, this isn't an uncommon event, banks foreclosing on homes simply because they do not investigate the actual foreclosure itself. If that happens, it becomes a battle the homeowner must take upon himself, and is usually long and expensive a process.

You can watch a video report on the story below.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons