Articles Posted in Real Estate Litigation

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Laura Turczak and Robert Lew purchased a house in 2007. They arranged a mortgage with Wells Fargo Bank for $391,250.  They also took out a second mortgage with First American Bank for $73,335. In 2002, Lew and Turczak stopped paying the loans. 

Wells Fargo filed to foreclose its mortgage in June 2010. The same month, First American sued Lew and Turczak for repayment of the second mortgage.

On Sept. 3, 2010, Wells Fargo received a variable foreclosure order that found Lew, Turczak and First American in default.  Judgment was entered for foreclosure and sale in the total amount of $408,597.92. 

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The Bank of New York filed to foreclose on a mortgage owned by the decedent, Ruth Hatch. 

The foreclosure named her heirs as defendants. In December 2003, Jesse Hatch, the son of Ruth Hatch, filed a motion to dismiss. He claimed that he was an heir and that the Bank of New York had failed to obtain personal jurisdiction over him.

In the Jesse Hatch motion, he attached an affidavit stating that he had mailed a copy of the motion to the bank’s attorneys.  Thereafter, the bank contacted Hatch to inform him that a hearing was set for the next month and the bank would move for summary judgment, default judgment of foreclosure and sale and appointment of a foreclosure sales officer. 

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In January 2003, Michael Henderson, the defendant, wanted to rehabilitate real estate he owned. He submitted a loan application to the plaintiff, National Lending Services Inc. National Lending approved Henderson’s loan. The loan provided for an adjustable rate interest in which the interest only was paid until the loan matured on June 1, 2004. 

Henderson signed a trust agreement providing that National Lending would distribute the loan funds as necessary to Chicago Title & Trust, which would then pay the construction companies that were doing the rehab work on the property.

Every month, Henderson would pay $185.83 as the interest payment required on the note. When the note matured in June 2004, rather than paying the remainder of the $322,983.41 that was due, he continued to make monthly interest payments. Finally, on Dec. 2, 2010, National Lending filed a lawsuit against Henderson for the unpaid balance of the note, plus per diem additional charges. Henderson appeared pro se in the case. 

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The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed the decision of a Cook County Circuit Court judge in a dispute that arose over a rental property. Randy Franks entered into a commercial lease agreement with Sheldon Broder. Franks was leasing a property to use as a retail store. Franks paid Broder a security deposit of $4,012 and monthly rent of $2,300 plus one-third of the real estate taxes for the property. The lease agreement was made on March 30, 1996. The rent was raised to $3,900 in 2004. Franks made his rent payments on time for the entire term of the lease.

On Nov. 28, 2006, Franks sent a letter to Broder stating that he planned to end the lease on Jan. 15, 2007. Franks also asked if Broder would allow the use of his security deposit ($4,012) to cover the remaining 1 ½ months of rent. Broder responded that the lease stated that the security deposit could not be applied toward the rent and required Franks to pay the rent for the remaining part of the lease. 

Franks paid Broder the December 2006 rent and then informed Broder that he would be out of the country in January. Franks and Broder agreed to allow the use of the space for storage through Feb. 15, 2007. 

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Slawomir Lubowicki and his wife, Agnieszka Lubowicka, held a mortgage from the plaintiff, CitiMortgage (Citi) in the amount of $329,000 for their home in Mount Prospect, Ill. In August 2009, Citi filed a lawsuit alleging that Lubowicki and his wife were in default in the payment of their mortgage and sought a writ of foreclosure on the property.

The special process server hired to deliver service of summons on the Lubowicki family testified that he served Lubowicki’s wife on Aug. 18, 2009, though his description of the time at which he served it was inconsistent with his affidavits. Further, the process server claimed that he mailed a copy of the summons and complaint in a sealed envelope, addressed to Lubowicki at his residence in Mount Prospect. 

On Aug. 30, 2009, the court found that Lubowicki and his wife were in default for failing to appear or plead and entered a judgment for foreclosure and sale of the property. Subsequently, the property was sold in a judicial foreclosure sale that was confirmed by the trial judge on March 10, 2011.

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Deutsche Bank National Trust filed a lawsuit against Michael Plowman in 2010 to quiet title for a property located on Chicago’s North Side. The lawsuit alleged that Deutsche bank acquired title to the property by a foreclosure. The complaint also alleged that the property had been improved by the construction of a two-story house. 

In addition, it was stated in the complaint that Plowman owned an adjacent property that was also improved with a residence. The two structures were connected by a one-story structure spanning the boundary of the two properties. 

The lawsuit stated that Plowman had taken possession to control the double property. Plowman’s possession blocked Deutsche’s bank access to the property. There was also a dispute as to where the property line between the properties was located.

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