Defiant evicted family moves back amid complex legal fight
PORTLAND, Ore. – A family evicted from their southeast Portland home last month moved back in Friday, defying police and city government and claiming their home was taken by the bank illegally.
Meanwhile, the couple's lawyer painted a nightmarish picture of a family trying to fight mysterious companies in an effort to keep their home.
With the front door screwed shut and signs on the home warning them against burglary and criminal trespass, Darren Johnson and his wife, Patricia Williams, went in through the garage with the help of protesters supporting them.
"We feel this is a theft," Johnson said about being foreclosed on. "And no one wants anything stolen from them."
They're camping inside, and the power's been shut off. So they made a fire in the living room fireplace.
The couple fell behind on their mortgage after bills for Williams' heart condition stacked up.
"This is not an issue of lack of payment and not wanting to fulfill our obligation on paying the mortgage," Johnson said.
Police and sheriff's deputies evicted the couple last month. The couple says the banks were more anxious to kick them out of their home of eight years rather than work out a way to reschedule payments. So they stood up to the eviction along with the group We Are Oregon.
Johnson said his main fear is not the police showing up again.
"My fear is my family being homeless," he said. "My fear is my community being disrupted by another vacant house left open."
A couple neighbors have signs in their yards showing support for the family. But one of those neighbors was very frustrated by the chaos from the clash between protesters and police last month and worried about the attention this latest action will draw. The other neighbor just hopes it all ends soon.
Two officers did show up Friday along with a moving truck sent by the property owner. But no action was taken.
Police said they can't force the family out of the home unless that property owner complains that they are trespassing.
Fight with mysterious companies?
Johnson and Williams lost their battle in court to halt the eviction, and they are trying to go to state appeals court to get their house back.
Their lawyer, Geordie Duckler, says their loan was transferred between banks and mortgage companies so many times that the couple couldn't figure out which company to work with to save their home.
Duckler says they face an uphill battle now because they didn't fight the original notice of foreclosure last spring.
It wasn't until their house was already foreclosed on that they began to fight against a corporation called TD Service Company and a company out of Arizona called Steel Capital Steel.
Their case went all the way to trial, which is rare. They lost in August.
Duckler said the couple's trial turned bizarre when TD Service Company was suddenly removed from the lawsuit and substituted for Steel Capital Steel, which had bought the house at auction.
"There seems to be some information from a private investigator that they're defunct, that they don't exist anymore," he said by phone Friday. "The little information I'm able to find is they are incorporated in one state."
Steel Capital Steel is a Delaware corporation based in Arizona. County property records list their local address in Beaverton. But a plaque on the wall said the office is home to Timberline Servicing.
"We're the servicer, so we represent Steel Capital Steel," said Brent Behrons with Timberline Servicing.
He referred a KATU News reporter to another company in California that, he said, handles media questions.
But a representative of that company had never heard of Steel Capital Steel and doesn't work in Oregon.
KATU News traced Steel Capital Steel to a company called Conix in Arizona. Its slogan is "Helping the real estate markets heal."
KATU News left a message for the company's chairman, asking what its next move will be. It is waiting to hear back.
Johnson and Williams have tried to get the judge to reconsider their case, and that's what they were waiting for when they were evicted the day before Halloween.
But several days after their eviction, the county judge ruled against them again. Duckler said he hopes the Court of Appeals will say the couple was wronged.
"(If) no one says or does anything about it because the paperwork is just too complicated or the transactions are too hidden, then they can get away with it," he said by phone Friday. "I think the one thing that I find very admirable about the Williams is they're not letting these companies get away with it."
But the lawyer, Tom Davis, representing TD Service Company and Steel Capital Steel, said in a statement it's clear "the judge found they did not own the property, had no right to be in the property and the new owners have the legal right to have sole access to the property."
Hats off to KATU for doing this story. I would nominate you for a Pulitzer Prize.
To all you haters: Go Google the word 'robosign.' It's real, it's illegal, and it hurts people exactly like this.
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Special message to all the haters you know who you are:
Article 21.
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>>>(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.<<<<
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Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
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(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
 @lee986321 Yay!! More clips from the UN Declaration of Human Rights!! Lee knows how to use his mouse, and fully supports Obamacare!! See, even people with low IQs can come around to supporting universal healthcare. Women's healthcare -- including family planning and birth control -- should always be fully funded. So proud of you, Lee. Thanks for cutting out the BS and admitting you were wrong to have said all those horrible things about women. Maybe you'll be ok after all. Did they up the dosage or change the prescription?
 @gjetsonpdx If you know you can't afford the monthly payments, whether the person at the bank approves you or not, it's YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY not to enter into a contract where you're going to be evicted when you can't pay your bills.  If you think you're trying to pull a fast one on the bank by them approving you when you know you can't fulfill your end of the bargain, that's your problem, not theirs.
Katu, thanks for digging deep and actually doing journalism work, investigating, seeing how hard it is to know who owns what. I applaud you for showing our struggle for housing justice! no more empty homes, no more illegal evictions!
So did you even make ANY attempt to actually pay the mortgage? Or did you just stop paying it assuming that you could use a medical condition to say 'I fell on hard times so you need to feel sorry for me and work with me'. Sorry but if you didn't pay your mortgage, then you fully deserve to be evicted from your house.....same thing with your car...if you quit paying the bills then you deserve to lose it. It is one thing if someone is truly making an effort to pay their bills but the bank doesn't care and starts pushing you around, threatening eviction etc, but if you don't pay the bills then you deserve to have your house taken away from you. You agree to a contract to pay your bills, but if you break that contract, you have no one to blame but yourself
But wait, This can't happen!!! His holiness Barack is in for another 4 years! And a black family at that! Oh, pray tell this can't happen! Oh for Shame! Oh, Wait, that's right, half of wall street gave money to the obama campaign as well. Yup, been trying to tell ya their all the same! Demopublicans! Got money? Want to invest? Don't put it in the stupid bank or your dumb ass stocks, loan it to this family, help them save their house and give them a decent contract they can live with. Your money will be paid back and they will move forward. Start helping your neighbors and not wall street! Loan money to a small buisness, a little guy with an idea, work together and cut the fat cats, both politcal parties and wall street out of the equation and this country will be rewarded a hundred times over! Oh, but you want a guarantee? Ask bernie madoff's investors about guarantee's! I will risk my money with this family over bankers anyday!
"loan your money to this family...and your money will be paid back."
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LOLOLOLOL... No seriously...LOL!!!!!
At first I didn't have too much sympathy for the homeowners until I received a letter in the mail. Back in January 2009 I was in Miami and needed to go to the ER (urgent care would have worked but that concept, apparently, is not one they're fond of -- I could go to a pill mill doc or get Botox and other cosmetic injections, though). I have insurance. I showed the employee my insurance card and driver's license (a hyphenated last name that is frequently misunderstood makes this a necessity), she took photocopies and entered the info into the computer.
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Move it forward, less than six months after my visit, I was contacted by a debt collection agency -- not the hospital -- demanding payment. After trading phone calls back, forth, sideways and at least two three-way calls, the insurance company paid off the hospital (before adjustments it was $795). The hospital called (I was on one of these three-way calls) the debt collection agency and told them to call off the dogs. The bill had been paid and I wasn't responsible for any debt (I even have a bill from the hospital showing a zero-balanced account).
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I thought it was a done deal. Boy was I wrong! Apparently the initial purchaser of my debt (International Portfolio) included a man who was well known for buying up debt and going about predatory lending practices was unwilling to negotiate despite the fact that the hospital said to back off. During this time I saw a "60 Minutes" show about him saying that he was on the run (he was later caught and incarcerated due to his business practices, harassment, fleeing police, hiding assets and on and on).Â
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I hadn't heard from the debt collection agency hired by International Portfolio since January last year (I sent them a check for the portion not covered by insurance but they never cashed it along with a specific date saying if I didn't hear back from them I'd consider the matter closed). It hadn't gotten out of the debt collector's hands since I was disputing the bill and, as such, no further action would be taken until they heard back from the guy in jail (who couldn't conduct business like this -- especially not from prison).
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Well, last month I got a letter from yet another debt collection agency. This agency is representing yet another client, AR Assist/Greenfish Fund. I have never done any business with this person and don't know who they are or how to contact them to, yet again, call off the dogs. Near as I can tell, the incarcerated person's assets as International Portfolio were somehow sold to AR Assist/Greenfish Fund. And, lucky me, I was one of those people getting the transfer.
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I've not given up yet but it is beyond frustrating. The bill is 100% paid with nothing owing. Now I'm glad that the other debt collection agency didn't cash my check (even if I'd sent in the full $795) because I have a feeling the lovely people at AR Assist would still try to collect because, somehow, the debt would still not show up as satisfied.
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Problem #1 for this whole craziness -- the representative I was dealing with (manager) had a very valid point, sadly. He saw the $795 and the $0.00 balance on the hospital bill, saw the insurance explanation of benefits, and heard from the hospital directly. But, as he said, how can I prove that the $795 bill I was showing him was THE SAME bill he was contracted to collect. And, like I said, he's kinda right.
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Problem #2 -- the cost in sending registered, certified mail, aside, the cost to fly back to Florida and stay for small claims court (my only way to apparently get them to back off and then there's still no guarantee that they will) would far outweigh the $795 they're demanding. But, on principle alone, I don't think it is fair, just, or legal, for them to demand essentially a double-payment.
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So, yeah, I guess I can really start to see sympathy for at least some of these people. Once the predatory lenders get hold of you, they really dig in (and sell your identification, contact information, and, obviously, medical records). I knew I had to pay and never doubted that. But I also had expected to at least get my first contact from the hospital, not a debt collector. Who's to say that, because the (former?) homeowner in the story had her own medical issues, that something similar happened to her or that caused her to be picked up and targeted by the predatory lenders? I can see how these jerks I'm dealing with could indirectly result in me at least coughing up an arm and a leg to keep my house.
Banks will do anything they can to make money off of their customers, including lying, cheating or stealing. But they do it in such a way that it's all perfectly "legal" because they have armies of lawyers twisting words and conditions in such a way that makes it nearly impossible for normal people to comprehend.
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Banks are not interested in you as a person. Their only interest is money. They LOVE money. Money makes their world go round. And their executives are going to do everything in their power to ensure that they get their ridiculous salaries and mega-dollar bonuses.
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So, that being said, I'm sure that the bank gave...this family a forthright...and honest...effort...in helping...them deal...with their financial...problems. (I'm sorry...I can't stop laughing!)
 @Mikey Isn't that true of ANY business...??  Money does indeed make their world go around.  Try buying any goods or service and when you get to the counter, say "....whoops!  Don't have any money..!!  Let me take it anyway, and I'll call you in a few weeks and we'll work it out....".  Be sure to let us know how that works out for you.....
@Mikey And maybe your employer, if you have one, should stop paying you because you are all about money and just trying to take from people trying to have a successful business blah, blah, blah. Only those who have no integrity, honesty, or ethics support squatters who did not live up to their obligations. No one has ever been evicted in a foreclosure who paid their mortgage obligation on time and in the amount they agreed to. You and the rest of those that want to have everything handed to them should grow up, take responsibility for yourselves, and build a life through hard work of your own, not someone else's.
 @Mikey And you have a responsibility as a customer to make sure that when you sign on the dotted line to do business with that bank that you understand 100% those rules and consequences.  Not paying your bill because you don't know who to send the money to isn't an excuse.  The fact that they got to the point where they were having to "work with the bank" means that they were behind in payments.  My question would be, why did that happen?  Too many people these days when times get tough don't prioritize their expenses and will continue to eat out, pay the cable bill, have the nice car, yet that house payment may or may not get covered that month.  It's that kind of person I have no sympathy for.
lets all stop paying on our stuff.  im sure if WE were owed money, we would just say "ok thats fine"  hahahaha play by the rules dummies!
What a BS story. Make your payment to the real owner "THE BANK" or get out.
Which is it? "The couple fell behind on their mortgage..." or "This is not an issue of lack of payment and not wanting to fulfill our obligation on paying the mortgage..." Either they paid, or they didn't.  I lost my home too, nearly a year and a half ago. I was in my home for 34 years. Kids, pets, happy times, sad times. I worked but was alway a homebody. Especially the holidays and birthdays and any celebrations. It was my refuge...my sanctuary. I just couldn't maintain the $1600 payments anymore. I fought so hard...I got mixed up with a group who said they would help me, and then a couple of years later they were caught by the state. Dan Tilkin will remember that....I spoke with him several years ago about it. But I had to give it up anyway. How do you pack things up and move 34 years of living in only 3 days? The things I had to leave behind are unbelievable. I'm so homesick sometimes it's hard to go on. But I do. Bad stuff happens. Losing your home isn't the worst thing...but it's pretty close. The Johnson's need to give up. It kills you to stay where you don't belong. Leaving it will only kill you a little slower :(
@fracas Im very sorry
 @fracas How long was your mortgage for? I know that most would be paid off in 30 years, but I am guessing that you either re-financed or took out an equity loan.
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I've been in my home for 20 years and was getting close to having it paid off 5 years ago, but divorce made me re-finance so as to have the money to pay off the division of assets.
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I hope you have a nice place to stay now.
Good point Tyler. I'm also confused. Is the wife's name Mrs. Johnson, Ms. Williams, Mrs. Williams?
 @CyberspaceMe The man's name is Darren Johnson and his wife is Patricia Williams.
BTW KATU Dan, you last told this story a few weeks ago stating the Johnson/ William's got behind due to Ms Williams having to stop her employment because of a pulmonary condition, in this report you claim, now, it is due to mounting medical bill from a heart condition.....so which is it?  I find it sad and comical that reporters can't even get their own stories correct.
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@Tyler Van Pelt Tyler...a pulmonary and heart condition are associated.
 Not to argue but pulmonary is COPD, Asthma, it is the respiratory system, nothing to do with the heart
KiKi, I completely agree with your point; multisystem disease is confusing to alot of patints and oftenmore so to their spouses
sorry Pulmomary disease is lung disease. Pulmonologists can treat people with CHF, so can Internists and Family Practioners but they better have a cardiologist onboard for consultation/recommendation on the cardiac componet my experience is that poorly compensated CHF patients are followed almost exclusively by cariologists. Thank you for the caps foer emphasis I'm glad you're excited BTW CHF can affect the lungs, or not depending on which side of the heart is affected.
 @Kiki  @Tonk Kiki is right. It doesn't make the Johnsons not paying on their mortgage any more ok, but pulmonary can AND DOES refer to the heart and lungs. A PULMONOLOGIST treats CHF (congestive heart failure) which is a circulatory condition affecting both heart and lungs.
 @Tonk Ok BUT, what I was referring to... was just because they initially referred to it as a pulmonary condition, and now a heart condition, does not necessarily mean that he is changing his story and/or did not have all of the facts initially. I was not saying that the root cause may not be something in the lungs, but if it causes problems in the heart it is still a heart condition and may still very well be labeled something 'pulmonary' Â
ah no; pulmomary is lung. Pulmonary edema can be resultant CHF, can be from smoke inhalation etc. If the primary problem is Pulmonary then the primary problem is in the lungs (pulmonary) there is secondary problems due to compensatory stress in cardiac, renal, etc from it. If the Primary disease is cadiac say CHF from ventricular damage causing either conduction or contractility issues there can be secondary pulmonary or renal etc issues but the primary dx would be Caridac
 @Tyler Van Pelt Well, not to argue either, but it did not specify the type of 'pulmonary' problems that they are having. There are many conditions that have 'pulmonary' in the title, that are related to both the heart and the lungs. Pulmonary edema, for example, is also known as congestive heart failure. Pulmonary, itself, generally refers to the pulmonary circulation which pumps blood from the heart to the lungs, and back. It's a short circuit.. But it can mean problems in either the heart OR the lungs. Or both.
Nothing worse than a Knicks/Obama fan getting pushed around by the evil Bush/Romney Banking system. God bless the Johnson/Williams family. If there was a "contribute" now button beside comments, I'm good for a buck. There's an idea, put donate now buttons on every forum to raise money. Federal Tax for every forum post?Â
Not a Knicks fan or Obama aka Berry fan....my brothers hoodie.
 @CyberspaceMeÂ
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Please say this is sarcasm.
 @Scotty9  @CyberspaceMe Good lord I hope so, this guy can't be serious.
I am sitting here LOL with tears coming down my face....google Gordie Duckler Law......he practices Animal Law...you know a barking dogs, code violations, etc.....Good story KATU, LOL great work Dan, so glad you dig into this story....LOLÂ
 @Tyler Van Pelt Good find! I also see that he practices accident law. Maybe there is not that much difference as they all involve filing papers and going to court.
 @Dirtman  @Tyler Van Pelt Geordie Duckler? He's the one handling the big ODR case with Obie the dachshund, too. My my, this man loves to have his finger in all the pies and media attention, it would seem. Apparently he likes to take on clients he knows are in the wrong and try to make the evil corporations and dognapping rescue workers of the world pay for their wrongdoings.
so why don't all the occupiers offer these people a place to stay? Why don't they start a collection to pay off these peoples mortgage? Why don't they start their own occu-bank where they loan money to people in forclosure? I know, it is because their consern for others stops when it hits their own wallets. As long as it is somebody else who is forced to take the hit, they are ok with it.
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Anybody who has a mortgage knows that it isn't your house until you pay off the note, it is the banks house.
This time they will goto Jail. I had a friend who had his morgage get lost durring the morgage shuffleing that they do.( Banks Trade them like Baseball Cards) He made a payment to the first lender just to get it back. They told him they did not hold his morgage. It took over 1 1/2 years before they got it right. He had opened up an account and put his house payment every month into this one account. When he got a Pay up or get out notice he transfered all House Payments to the new morgage holder. The holder tried to get him to pay late fee's and interest for that late payments. When he went to court and told the judge what happened he was clear since he had proof he had all the payments in another account. He only had to pay a portian of that 1 1/2 years since he proved that it was a bank mistake.; Now I want to know how many House Payments did this couple make? Did they try to make any Payments on thier house durring the two years? If they did not make 1 payment durring the two years then what makes them think they can stay in that house for free? If I don't pay my rent every month then I know I would get kicked out. But I don't have to worry about that since House is the first bill I pay, then Power,Water and Garbage. In that Order.
 @cpt.iceman Your friend is smart and a great example of how to handle a complicated situation.  Kudos to him.
"WE feel this is a theft"?Â
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Headline of the century. Right there. WE "feel" does not translate to reality or contractual legal defense.Â
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I am sick and tired of being thrust in the middle of anarchal defiance.Â
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This man could appeal to his anarchal friends to help him pay up in full his BACK MORTGAGE PAYMENTS. Short of that - he has no legal leg to stand on - moving himself back into a home that is not owned by him any longer.Â
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The only THEFT here is this man and his wife - and their anarchal law breaking supporters - thrusting their intentional illegal actions in all of our faces.Â
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-GFqhCq2HA
I guess if you don't pay your mortgage then the bank can "illegally" foreclose
 @archon312 Illegally foreclose? This couple had to have read the terms of their home loan when they were issued the keys to a home and they moved their belongings - the bank only allowing for this couple to take possession of a home in the first place because they LEGALLY CONTRACTED to pay every single months mortgage payment. Not some of them. Not picking and choosing to stop completely paying on their mortgage completely.Â
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This couple KNEW from day one the legal consequence if they CHOSE to not comply with the contracted terms of their mortgage contract.Â
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And now they are not one bit entitled or legally allowed to call this home their home any longer. And yet they ILLEGALLY chose to move back in?Â
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None of it is legally defensible. NOT one bit of it.Â
 @englishdaisy  @archon312 Ummm.....I think he was being sarcastic in his comment.
 "My fear is my community being disrupted by another vacant house left open."
lol, that ridiculous statment takes all of his credibility away.Â
 @Karla Readsalot Where do anarchal law breakers come up with blasphemous statements like that - indeed.Â
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Completely and total LIE.Â
Since you guys are obviously trying to fight foreclosure by appealing to public opinion, maybe a little more strategy is in order?
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How about if all the "protesters" that are so concerned did something to raise money? I am sure that washing cars or selling donuts isn't as much fun as getting interviewed by the TV camera crews, but it might actually raise a little bit of sympathy.
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I doubt you are going to raise 2 years of mortgage payments selling raffle tickets, but you might actually generate some sympathy. Right now you just come across as over-entitled freeloaders looking to live rent free.
 @al_02 What,,,,, you mean work???
How do these people think this house is there's ?  I wonder how they would feel if I borrowed 200 thousand dollars from them and not pay it back.... Bet they would feel different ... They should be in jail.. If they were white they would be !
Nah...lots of white folks out there doin' the saaame thing.