Wells Fargo (WF), through their attorneys at Kozeny & McCubbin (K&Mc), foreclosed on my home at 4929 William Street, Omaha, Neb., after three months of poor communication during which I did not even realize that I am behind on a post-petition balance due following my completion of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy payment plan earlier in the year. (WF and my bankruptcy attorney dispute my version of these events, claiming that I should have known.)
K&Mc recorded a Statutory Notice of Sale on November 25. It is defective because the Deed of Trust is inaccurately described as executed by both me and S.H. (the prior owner) in June 1999, and so recorded Douglas County, Nebraska, Register of Deeds." S.H. Alone executed this note in 1999. He moved to the Philadelphia, PA, area, when I purchased the residence and assumed the Deed of Trust in January.
More than a week before the sale date (December 19), I sent a certified letter to K&Mc and WF demanding that they cease with the proceedings. K&Mc ignore it. WF mailed me a response stating that Our primary goal is to help you to continue to experience the pride of homeownership. But I received it on the above sale date, when WF acquires it. I contacted WF (per the letter's instructions) and was informed that WF already foreclosed on the property.
When I asked what the point of the letter was, the operator told me that such letters always take seven to ten days to arrive to the recipient. They could have walked from Des Moines to my home (about 130 miles) and gotten it there faster.
The fact that WF was already aware of the time required to get a letter offering assistance to the homeowner's mailbox and of the pending sale date, a reasonable person at WF could have found a faster means to communicate with me, including my telephone numbers in their files.
On January 5, WF filed suit for restitution of premises and includes S.H. As a codefendant with me. The formal complaint contains erroneous statements and defamatory language, including that Mr. S.H. Resides in Douglas County, Nebraska (he currently lives in Arizona), and accusing us of having willfully, unlawfully [entering] and forcibly [detaining] the aforementioned property. (Neither WF nor K&Mc had sent me a written demand to vacate, nor did they attempt to physically defend the property from my occupancy. The Douglas County Assessor recommends that foreclosure victims remain in their homes for as long as possible, not only to protect their legal rights, but because vacant and abandoned houses are targets for theft and vandalism. Their warning is substantiated by the theft of the mailbox and damage to its pole after I left for good on January 28 and the sheriff's deputies posted a No Trespassing sign.)
Sandy Johnson, Executive Specialist, denies my allegations and "[WF has]determined that the foreclosure sale performed on his property was indeed valid and will remain (source: WF's rebuttal to Iowa Attorney General, to whom I filed a complaint." Johnson does not bother to explain why it's perfectly OK to name a prior owner who no longer has any obligation to the property.
Meanwhile, their insurance division in Springfield, OH, bought insurance for the property and is trying to charge the fee to the escrow on a now defunct mortgage! Look, numbskulls, if you insist the house is yours, you pay for the insurance, I don't!
I seek restitution and punitive damages against WF and K&Mc either to recover my home or buy an similar one, moving expenses, emotional trauma, and sufficient cash to set aside for the state and federal income taxes on my court award.
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