Legal options against Citi Mortgage and my municipality?
Date: Thu, 12/09/2010 - 06:05
I'll make this a hypothetical question--
Citi Mortgage has a Summons to appear in court issued to a person who has a perfect payment history after only 3 months in arrears. It has to be sent certified mail and either handed to her or "nailed" to her door by the sheriff. She never received that Summons.
Since she didn't--and couldn't because she didn't know about it--show up at the Hearing, they put her house up for auction and she was notified about it in late October by certified mail. It stated that she owed the original amount in arrears (about $1200) plus $3500 legal fees and that an auction would be held on Dec 14th.
As she was scrambling to come up with this huge (everything's huge when you're struggling) amount by December 14th, her other bills fell further into arrears.
In effect, this person was denied the opportunity to settle at a reasonable level at the original hearing because she was not informed about it. The first she knew about an auction was when she got the certified letter that it had been done. Add to this that even the clerks told her that they'd never seen action taken against a person this quickly before.
This person's my 78 y/o mom who thinks she'll be arrested if she litters. She'd never in a million years ignore a Summons, especially if her home was at stake.
We're going to the couthouse today to see if an Affidavit of Service is there. Even if it is, it's fraudulant. I was with her in August when they claim she was served with the Summons.
Even if they vacate the auction, does she have the right to sue based on never having been served the initial Summons and the damage it's caused? It's destroyed her across the board. I'ts as though they wanted her little condo at any cost and it's devestated her. She had perfect credit until 6 months ago.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for its length.
Citi Mortgage has a Summons to appear in court issued to a person who has a perfect payment history after only 3 months in arrears. It has to be sent certified mail and either handed to her or "nailed" to her door by the sheriff. She never received that Summons.
Since she didn't--and couldn't because she didn't know about it--show up at the Hearing, they put her house up for auction and she was notified about it in late October by certified mail. It stated that she owed the original amount in arrears (about $1200) plus $3500 legal fees and that an auction would be held on Dec 14th.
As she was scrambling to come up with this huge (everything's huge when you're struggling) amount by December 14th, her other bills fell further into arrears.
In effect, this person was denied the opportunity to settle at a reasonable level at the original hearing because she was not informed about it. The first she knew about an auction was when she got the certified letter that it had been done. Add to this that even the clerks told her that they'd never seen action taken against a person this quickly before.
This person's my 78 y/o mom who thinks she'll be arrested if she litters. She'd never in a million years ignore a Summons, especially if her home was at stake.
We're going to the couthouse today to see if an Affidavit of Service is there. Even if it is, it's fraudulant. I was with her in August when they claim she was served with the Summons.
Even if they vacate the auction, does she have the right to sue based on never having been served the initial Summons and the damage it's caused? It's destroyed her across the board. I'ts as though they wanted her little condo at any cost and it's devestated her. She had perfect credit until 6 months ago.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for its length.
The summons is the keys....if she was not served properly you ca
The summons is the keys....if she was not served properly you can have the order set aside for improper service.
