Fortunately, Mr. Gregory (and a host of others) were wrong about 3ABN, Danny Lee Shelton the family's intention to sue us. My only regret is the decision not to counterclaim and close the gate to a motion to dismiss before we subpoenaed the Illinois Records. We already had sufficient cause to counterclaim, but Simpson kept asserting that he had no intention to dismiss...day after the Judge in Southern Illinois ordered the production of the auditor records, he filed to dismiss. And it has been a gargantuan effort ever since to reverse that strategic error.
And that error was my fault...had I agreed to file a counterclaim, it would have closed the gate to a Motion to Dismiss and the case would have progressed to a trial on the merits before a jury of our peers in Worcester.
In retrospect, I should have counterclaimed and added Directors and officers individulaly, third party defendants like Linda Sue Shelton, Derrell Mundall, Both Gregory's and the now deceased Cindy into the fray and turned it into a three ring circus, cutting off all retreat; but hindsight is 20-20 and opportunity knocks only once. I cannot express just how badly I feel that we allowed them to escape and not guarantee the opportunity to recovery at the very least, costs, not to mention the wonderful opportunity to expose by testimony of so many,, just what evil really lurks in the world of Danny Lee Shelton. I pray for a second opportunity!!! Maybe, SCOTUS will send us back to October 2008!!!
The only consolation is that this case, 3ABN v Joy, rekindled a latent talent that carefully and meticulously re-trained me for the legal battles of a lifetime, working to preserve the homesteads of virtually hundreds of victims of the overzealous bankers that literally threw out the banking guidelines and hyper-inflated housing to virtual unaffordability; Then sold the trash to idiot investors that trusted the excessively greedy mega bankers, eliminating banker's own liability and exposure, and trying to leave these poor fools to the largest losses of wealth in world history.
And the war is far from over!!! Massachusetts has lead the nation with the Fremont predatory lending case; the Option One Predatory lending and lending discrimination case; The Ibanez/Larace decision invalidating wrongful foreclosures and establishing the clarity of the assignment of title trail; Novastar vs Saffron requiring Housing court to consider the issue of right of possession prior to eviction of a homeowner; The Bailey case requiring the housing court try issues of facts that relate to wrongful foreclosures as a defense to eviction; the Bevilaqua Decision that clarifies that if the foreclosure is invalid, then the foreclosure in VOID and all subsequent sales of the VOID foreclosured property are also void and that includes third party sales. Buyer's recourse for purchasing a void foreclosure is to sue the bank!!! (Unless they purchased their own title insurance).
Now we await the Eaton vs FNMA decision from the SJC that would clearly establish the Note and the Mortgage must be properly assigned and in the possession of the foreclosing party at the time of a Notice of Sale. If this goes the way we expect, this ruling will invalidate tens of thousands of foreclosures all the way back to about 1995!!! When banks take shortcuts and ignore the equitable standards of nearly two hundred fifty years of law in the Commonwealth and elsewhere, they must pay the price and be accountable for their actions and it has been a pleasure working with teams that spend days and nights putting the Mega Banks feet to the fire!!! It will take another decade to deal with this mess and I must say that we are more ready than ever with an ever growing array of legal options for pre-foreclosure and post-foreclosure victims.
Now it is nearly time to direct the effort into other Power of Sale states and apply the progress in the Commonwealth to each of their unique statutes and precedents and coordinate the application of various options to take back what was wrongfully taken. I would suppose I am fortunate not to be tied up in the third world war!!! But it does not resolve the serious regret.
And, yes, I have missed the special skills that Bob could have brought to this battle; but it has been a largely thankless and financially unrewarding project thus far requiring the brute force of time and will-power and thousands of hours of interviews and intakes to pick and choose the winners and the worthy. Shockingly, the bigger the house and mortgage, the less likely it could be saved. The battle has focused on middle and lower income neighborhoods where the unsuspecting and unsophisticated were readily and abjectly taken advantage of.
So, ironically, I have much to thank 3ABN, it's officers and directors, and most importantly, Danny Lee Shelton, for. They gave me the opportunity to hone those dulled skills into a finely sharpened double edged sword seeking equal justice for all against the leviathon's of a banking industry gone awry. And we had the internet presence to demonstrate our ability!!! Yes, after all, you have served me and our Commonwealth Community well as we show people their options to actually knock down goliath!!!
But, give me any open opportunity, I'll be back!!!
Gailon Arthur Joy
AUReporter
