OH: Woman's house and goods wrongly "repossessed"

[seamusTX]

It's not just the cops busting down the door of the wrong house for some bogus warrant.

In Athens County, Ohio (middle of nowhere), a woman came home from vacation to find the locks on her house changed. She gained entry to the house and found that everything that she owned was gone.

A bank had mistakenly foreclosed on her house, seized all her property, and sold it.* The house that they should have foreclosed on was across the street.

The police declined to treat the issue as a crime (which I can understand).

The bank declined to reimburse the woman for her claim of $18,000 worth of vanished property. They also declined to respond to media inquiries.

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-hea ... ners-stuff" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I sincerely hope she gets a good lawyer and sues the stuffing out of those morons.

*Probably sold it to a junk dealer, who resold it at a flea market or on eBay.

- Jim

[chasfm11]

OK. Color me stupid but how is this not:
1. Breaking and entering
2. Burglary

The fact that an organization did it, not a person shouldn't change the outcome. The bank had no legal claim on anything that they took. They gained access to the house the same as a common burglar.

It speaks volumes about the public sentiment in Ohio that the population isn't storming the bank responsible. That could have been any house of any resident.

I don't see that situation going as well for the bank here in Texas.

[apostate]

She's lucky. If she lived in Fort Worth the city might have demolished her house.
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/07/[abbreviated profanity deleted] ... 91555.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[seamusTX]

... how is this not:
1. Breaking and entering
2. Burglary

Intent.

The same as mistaken warrants, someone who has a "good faith" rationale for an action gets a break from criminal charges.

- Jim

[Dave2]

OK. Color me stupid but how is this not:
1. Breaking and entering
2. Burglary

The fact that an organization did it, not a person shouldn't change the outcome. The bank had no legal claim on anything that they took. They gained access to the house the same as a common burglar.

Yep. No clue why the cops didn't arrest the people involved.

[seamusTX]

No clue why the cops didn't arrest the people involved.

Small town. Large bank.

Any further questions?

- Jim

[Dave2]

No clue why the cops didn't arrest the people involved.

Small town. Large bank.

Any further questions?

- Jim

Yeah, why aren't the cops doing their job?

[chasfm11]

... how is this not:
1. Breaking and entering
2. Burglary

Intent.

The same as mistaken warrants, someone who has a "good faith" rationale for an action gets a break from criminal charges.

- Jim

But officer, I didn't intend on speeding. I was thinking pure, legal speed limit thoughts.

Good faith, at least for me, means prudent action. One could make a case that if address number was the same on a different street. A totally different house number on a totally different street = negligence. Negligence should be no different than malicious intent.

[seamusTX]

But officer, I didn't intend on speeding. I was thinking pure, legal speed limit thoughts.

I thought the speed limits were recommended minimums. They sure are in Houston.

Good faith, at least for me, means prudent action.

I agree, but I don't make or enforce the rules.

- Jim

[jimlongley]

When I lived in Plano, my address was 8517 Wildcreek Dr. Our house was on the corner of Wildcreek and Valley Falls, and the house on the opposite corner was 8517 Valley Falls, and we got each others' mail and visitors regularly, and once UPS delivered a very heavy order of ammo to them instead of me, and didn't stick around to get the required signature either, and left it blocking their front door.

I was always a little worried about the possibility that the FD or police might go to the wrong address in an emergency,l wasting precious minutes, but I never considered a mistaken identity repo or raid.

[seamusTX]

I get mail for the wrong houses all the time because Galveston has this ingenious system of naming streets Avenue O, O 1/2, P, P 1/2, Q, and Q 1/2, etc.

Other places have similar problems with adjacent streets with names names like Chestnut Place, Chestnut Circle, etc.

I don't know why they can't just name streets after presidents and states.

- Jim

[The Annoyed Man]

get mail for the wrong houses all the time because Galveston has this ingenious system of naming streets Avenue O, O 1/2, P, P 1/2, Q, and Q 1/2, etc.

Other places have similar problems with adjacent streets with names names like Chestnut Place, Chestnut Circle, etc.

I don't know why they can't just name streets after presidents and states.

- Jim

Because they quickly run out of idiots (44) and places (50) to name the streets after, and then they have to resort to "Arizona, Arizona 1/2, California, California 1/2" streets, and "Clinton, Clinton 1/2" avenues.


In all seriousness, what is unfathomable to me is the bank's refusal to reimburse the woman for her losses, which are demonstrably their fault. THAT is criminal. The accident can be judged an accident because there is no intent, but that doesn't relieve them of the financial obligation to make the woman whole again. If I accidentally drive a car into your living room, destroying its contents, I'm not guilty of theft, but I AM obligated to fix your living room and replace its contents. That's just common law and common sense. So in that regard, they ARE criminalistic.

[Purplehood]

They could make good by giving the proceeds from the place that should have been cleaned-out, to the lady that actually was.

I know...I know...

[Keith B]

I get mail for the wrong houses all the time because Galveston has this ingenious system of naming streets Avenue O, O 1/2, P, P 1/2, Q, and Q 1/2, etc.

Other places have similar problems with adjacent streets with names names like Chestnut Place, Chestnut Circle, etc.

I don't know why they can't just name streets after presidents and states.

- Jim

Yeah, try going to Atlanta and only knowing the place you are looking for is on Peachtree. There are 71 streets in Atlanta with a variant of Peachtree in their name.

[seamusTX]

Because they quickly run out of idiots (44) and places (50) to name the streets after, ...

Not to nitpick or anything, but four presidents have the same last name (Adams, Johnson, Roosevelt, and Bush). That gets the list down to 40. There was a General James Clinton in the Revolutionary War who got a lot of things named for him. Still, 90 names should be enough for many small towns. Then they can go to heroes of the Alamo, battles (Lexington, Concord, Gettysburg, San Jacinto), etc.

In all seriousness, what is unfathomable to me is the bank's refusal to reimburse the woman for her losses, which are demonstrably their fault. THAT is criminal.

It's a cause for civil action (i.e., a lawsuit). Who exactly would go to jail if they prosecuted a bank for a crime? That is always a problem with this kind of thing.

- Jim