v Zurich; being evicted Tues.

[Guest guest]

,

thank you so much for taking the time to read my appeal and for replying so

quickly. you are a wealth of information and help. I just found out that the

sherriff is indeed coming out to evict me on Tuesday the 20th. There is no

way I can get my possessions out of here by then. having no family and very

few close friends is making this more difficult.

I need to immediately reinstate my ch. 13 bankruptcy to put the house back

into protection from this foreclosure & eviction. the bankruptcy was

dismissed without prejudice on May 12, 2004 and closed on June 24, 2004

because I failed to include 2 of the required schedules; however, they told

me I could get it re-opened anytime if I paid them the $144 filing fee and

filed a petition. I have not done that yet because I literally have $48 to

my name. Also, I thought they would have to go through the entire

foreclosure sale again before they could evict me. apparently they don't.

If there is any way you can help me find a lawyer who could tell me how to

reopen my bankruptcy quickly, I would be so very grateful. I can draft and

file the necessary papers myself.

Foreclosure would effectively leave me penniless and homeless; I've been

fighting it myself in court for 2 years, trying to stall until I get my

settlement so I can repair the house and/or make up my back mortgage

payments. they finally had the foreclosure sale in April but I filed Ch. 13

in time to save the house. As I said above, the ch. 13 was dismissed in

May, but I had no idea they would evict me before I had the chance to

re-open it. Being poor, ill, and depressed has been a barrier to handling

this situation. Has anyone tried contacting Zurich's CEO, distributing

emails, making aggressively truthful websites, etc. to pressure or shame

them?

To answer your question, I did not have a jury trial against the builder.

the interesting thing is that the first judge ruled for me in a summary

judgement. Then Zurich filed a Declaratory Judgement and won it from a

different judge! below is an excerpt from my site

http://www.chezlili.com/_vs_Zurich_Corp/index.htm.

She filed suit against the builder in Mecklenburg County Superior Court,

and on 16 October 2001 obtained a judgment in the amount of $96,688.00 for

damages to her home ( vs. Royce L. Owens Construction and Zurich

Corporation #01-CVS-23195). The builder had moved out of the state and

dissolved his company. His insurance provider at the time of construction

was the Zurich Corporation (formerly land Casualty Ins.). Zurich

applied for and was granted a declaratory judgment stating that they had not

covered the builder at the time the damage to this house was discovered.

The owner had no place to seek recovery of her $96,688 damages and no way to

repair her home in order to sell it. The case was argued before the NC

Court of Appeals on June 6, 2004; the owner is awaiting the decision to

attempt to save her home before it is taken in foreclosure ( vs.

Zurich COA03-1101).

My answers/comments to your email are in blue below:

It sounds like your current appeals attorney may have no legal theory

that would assist you in fighting the foreclosure. Correct...he is not

fighting the foreclosure at all; he is trying to get Zurich to pay me the

judgement. I have no attorney contacts in NC, however I do know a couple in

surrounding states. I am not certain that they would be knowledgeable about

foreclosures though, but I will check with them. Any help would be

welcomed at this point.

It seems to me that when a home is caught up in litigation foreclosure

should not be allowed until that litigation has come to a conclusion, but

common sense seldom seems to rule in homeowner cases. Exactly. I have

been trying to find a legal argument to support that for the past 2 years.

there must be some way to at least forestall the foreclosure until I get the

Court of Appeals decision (in the next 2-4 months). If I lose in the COA

and am left with nothing through no fault of my own, there must be a way to

seek relief in court. I believe that losing one's entire net worth and

being left homeless would be considered as losing a " substantial right " and

therefore would have a legal remedy. Have never been able to afford an

attorney to look at this, but this caselaw needs to be made for us all.

I am curious about the actual product that is on your home. will try to

find out. I was an objector in the DryVit class action case. I would

assume that whatever product you have has been involved in a class action.

In the DryVit case if a homeowner didn't want to be part of the class they

had to opt out by a certain date. My attorney says it wasn't DryVit; I was

not in the class action. BUT in your case you are not suing the

manufacturer anyway, but instead the builder who installed it wrong.

I will talk to a couple of attorney's to see if anyone knows of someone in

NC that would have knowledge about foreclosure law. thank you...I

desperately need some Bankruptcy advice too. Every states laws are

different on bankruptcy and foreclosure. How long do you have from Saturday,

the day you received notice to the date that you have to vacate? 10 days.

Some states protect your home in bankruptcy. FL & KS are two of them. Do you

know the law on this in NC, and have you considered filing bankruptcy? BR

explained above Many of the families who contact us have had no other

choice. These are all families who had great credit when they purchased the

defective home and would NEVER have found themselves even thinking of

bankruptcy if there was any kind of justice for the homebuyer who has been

HADD.

I am so sorry for all that you have been, and are currently going through.

I hope that HADD may be of some help, even if it is only as a support group

who really understands what you are going through, and how you are

suffering. Everyone's kindness and willingness to help has taken an

incredible burden off of me emotionally...thank you.

FYI: I have seen Zurich spend HUGE amounts of money to avoid paying a

legitimate claim that would have cost a whole lot less to pay out. They have

the power, money, and attorneys that do nothing but fight claims. They don't

want to lose EVER because that case law could be used in future cases I

guess. One has to wonder why we have to spend so much money on insurance

when we either don't dare file a claim for fear of being canceled, OR

insurance fights the payment of a claim until the victim runs out of money

and can no longer fight. Yes! But I can't figure out why Zurich has made

such erratic attempts to settle out of court. they first offered me $3500,

then $7000, then $15,000, and last $38,500 (which would leave me $25,000

after my attorney's 30%). Their last attempt to force me to settle was to

say that they just discovered that they were actually NOT the builder's ins.

co. when he was building my house. I don't believe them.

Your web site is outstanding and I encourage everyone to check it out. The

appeal filed by the attorney has a lot of good case law in it that may be

useful to some of our other victims. thank you.

Please sign this HADD petition:

Distressed Homeowners Needing Your Help Petition

Seats, President

Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings INC. (HADD INC)

Member: National Alliance Against Construction Defects

A National Not for Profit Organization

Home: 636-938-1311

Cell: 816-560-0030

" Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can

change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. " Margaret Mead