3 Alleging Illegal Foreclosure, Eviction Get Reprieve

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DETROIT, MI – Three Wayne County families can remain in their homes as a federal judge considers a request for an injunction to stop evictions 18 families alleged in a lawsuit stemmed from the illegal foreclosure and sale of their properties to developers.

The order by U.S. District Judge Judith Levy applies to only three of the 18 plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit, which alleges officials at the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office failed to properly notify homeowners of foreclosure proceedings, and blocked them for signing up for payment plans that would have halted the action.

The affected families — who live in Lincoln Park, Redford Township and Garden City — have not had eviction proceedings initiated against them, the Detroit Free Press reports. Levy said she didn’t have jurisdiction over the pending 15 eviction cases.

Related

• Wayne County Illegally Foreclosed on Homes: Lawsuit

None of the affected homeowners has a mortgage. The foreclosure proceedings were for unpaid taxes.

Local governments, also named as defendants in the lawsuit, routinely buy foreclosed upon properties and sell them to developers for the cost of the back taxes as part of blight prevention programs.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Tarek Baydoun, told the Free Press that poor, struggling families are hurt by the county’s actions.

“We’ve concluded that this can be nothing but a malicious act,” Baydoun said. “All of them are blue-collar folks with mortgage-free homes that their families bled and sweat for.”

Potentially hundreds of Wayne County property owners are potentially affected, Baydoun has said. The number of properties purchased by local governments in the foreclosure auction this past fall included 106 in Wayne, 90 in Lincoln Park, 76 in Redford Township, 35 in Dearborn, and 28 in Garden City.