UPDATE: We have received an overwhelming number of responses to our “Disabled Navy Vet & Hayward Citizen of The Year Facing Homlessness” blog post with requests from people wanting to help our client. Below is a link to a Go Fund Me page our client’s family has set up for him to help raise funds to reinstate his loan. https://www.gofundme.com/43u85-save-dads-house
At The Estavillo Law Group, P.C. we care about all of our clients and once in a while we have the opportunity to fight for someone who epitomizes the situations we stand against. It is those clients that reaffirm our desire to protect our clients rights against the large financial institutions that have abused their power.
We had just such an opportunity last month, when a client came to us who was running out of options and he didn’t know where to turn. He is a 77 year old disabled veteran of the U.S. Navy and had served our country on a Navy Destroyer from 1959-1964. After the Navy, he moved to Hayward. In 1968 he and his family purchased their home and he has lived there ever since. Not only was he a war veteran but he was honored as Hayward Citizen of the Year and was recognized for his work with underprivileged kids.
After almost 50 years of living in his family home he was foreclosed upon after being placed in a loan he never should have been offered. The deck was surely stacked against him when the lender, Wells Fargo, said they were willing to help but then they “sold” his loan to Champion who then eventually sold his home on the court house steps. Sold, we found out, to a company that has a history of buying foreclosed properties and forcing elderly citizens out of their homes.
After a prolonged court battle, on June 22nd we appeared in Alameda County Superior Court against Champion Mortgage and Breckenridge Property Fund. The court found in favor of our client and we were able to temporarily stop our client’s eviction.
This fight is just beginning for our client and if we are unable to put title back in his name he will face eviction and will be yet another member of the Bay Area homeless population. This man has spent his life giving back to our community and it is our turn to help him. We are hoping that with help from local news channels we may be able to turn this story around and keep this man who has done so much for our community in his home.