An Ohio Bank Accidentally Foreclosed the Wrong House

[Jocassee]

Was one of those check boxes the address on the house?

No but if the addresses are irregular, not marked, or just plain funky...well *expletive deleted*it happens. There were a couple rural addresses I had wrong for months

[geronimotwo]

The contractor is acting as agent for the bank. The bank is, therefore, liable for the actions of their agent. They don't get to duck out and say, "it was someone else who screwed up!", anymore than any other employer can say, "It was just my employee! Not me!".

Their dissatisfaction with their agent's conduct is to be taken up with the agent. The employer of the agent is to make the person his agent harmed, whole.

so if i am replacing your roof and hit someone with my truck on the way to the lumberyard, then you are liable?

 

I didn't think it was real clear where the error was made and who all was involved in the error.  I would have thought that at some point a court officer would be involved as well.  The story I linked to didn't give a great many details of the initial incident.  

the video mentioned that the correct address was on the paperwork, but the gps took the contractor to the wrong house.  the video also showed the house number on the home he broke into.

[makattak]

so if i am replacing your roof and hit someone with my truck on the way to the lumberyard, then you are liable?

Nope. Just as were the repo company to hit someone with their car on the way to the house they (wrongly or rightly) are repossessing, they would be liable, not the bank.

Driving there is not part of acting as your agent, it is incidental to the action, but is not what you (or they) were hired for.

Now, if you are replacing my roof and drop a board over into the neighbors yard and disable his kid, I'm rather certain I'm getting sued for that.

[T.O.M.]

The legal theory is "respondeat superior"...

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Respondeat+superior

The long and short of it is that an employer is responsible for the actions of the employees.  May be some wiggle room with it being a contractor, but maybe not.

[makattak]

The legal theory is "respondeat superior"...

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Respondeat+superior

The long and short of it is that an employer is responsible for the actions of the employees.  May be some wiggle room with it being a contractor, but maybe not.

See, the bloodsucking lawyers errr.... honorable members of the legal profession can explain it better.

[lupinus]

No but if the addresses are irregular, not marked, or just plain funky...well *expletive deleted* happens. There were a couple rural addresses I had wrong for months

Interesting.

I'd rather think crossing off that particular tidbit of info would be rather important.

[MechAg94]

No but if the addresses are irregular, not marked, or just plain funky...well *expletive deleted* happens. There were a couple rural addresses I had wrong for months

My Parents have the address on the mail box at the road.  It does not appear anywhere at the house.

This is why I was curious if there were county lot or survey maps that could be used.  As i said, my mortgages have always had lot diagrams and such included.  I would have thought that by the time the guys showed up to clean out the house, several different people had located the house and identified it.  I am curious about the details of how all this went down.

[Tallpine]

My Parents have the address on the mail box at the road.  It does not appear anywhere at the house.

This is why I was curious if there were county lot or survey maps that could be used.  As i said, my mortgages have always had lot diagrams and such included.  I would have thought that by the time the guys showed up to clean out the house, several different people had located the house and identified it.  I am curious about the details of how all this went down.

No numbers on or anywhere near our house.  Just the number on the mailbox in the bunch on the county road down on the corner of our land.  It's not at all apparent which box goes with which house unless you know your way around.

Every house out here is drastically different.  It would be impossible to confuse if you had any idea what you were looking for.  If you don't have any idea, then you probably don't need to find my place. 

[Jocassee]

As a failsafe I eventually kept a list of town clerks in Vermont to verify stubborn addresses.

[KD5NRH]

Maybe it's just me, but this doesn't quite add up:
"An Athens County, OH woman came home from a two-week summer vacation to find that a local bank had accidentally foreclosed her house and repossessed all of her belongings."

"Still, First National is insisting it acted in good faith. The lawn was overgrown, the utilities were shut off, and the door was unlocked. Bank representatives just chucked out what they thought was unwanted stuff."

The door being unlocked is debatable; hard to prove, and it may actually have been accidentally left unlocked in a hurry to catch a flight, but who turns off the electricity and water for a two week vacation?  The refrigerator isn't going to cost you as much as the hassle of cleaning out the freezer and then restocking it when you get back, or the fees they generally charge to turn off electricity and turn it back on.  The only things I can think of that use water non-interactively are an icemaker and sprinklers, and both take less than 5 seconds to just turn off.  This also leaves out the hassle of coming home and finding out they forgot to turn it back on when you told them to.  Whether they were turned off could be verified pretty easily with the providers, so if this is a false claim by the bank, it could really hurt them.

FWIW, I have, while leaving on vacation, gone through the house with a camera so I could tell if anything was changed.  Then again, I always had someone taking care of pets or some such that I wanted to be able to clear if it really was my fault the window was left open in a storm or similar.

[cordex]

Depends on what they mean by utilities were shut off. When I leave the house for a long vacation I shut the water off where it comes into the house and have been known to flip some of the breakers.  Mostly out of paranoia because I know of cases where toilets have leaked unchecked over long vacations and out of fear of electrical fires (easier to flip some breakers than unplug a bunch of stuff).

Not sure how far they went in determining that utilities were actually shut off considering they didn't even double-check the address.

[Hawkmoon]

What difference does it make if the grass was long or the utilities were (or seemed to be) shut off? Her house number was on her mailbox, and the correct house number they were supposed to repossess was on the mailbox at that house -- which was on the opposite side of the street.

The repo man (or men) screwed the pooch, and the bank they were working for REALLY needs to step up to the plate. And the cops should have arrested the repo men -- it doesn't matter what they thought they were doing, what they DID was to break into a house they had no legal right to enter, and steal the owner's possessions. That right there is "burglary."

[Ned Hamford]

Problem with calling it robbery ect is the intent element.  Not saying there was is no crime, but the prosecution would have to work for their money.

[MechAg94]

Problem with calling it robbery ect is the intent element.  Not saying there was is no crime, but the prosecution would have to work for their money.

I am sure they would, but the very idea that they would get charged and arrested would go a long way to making sure they are more careful in the future. 

[Tallpine]

Problem with calling it robbery ect is the intent element.  Not saying there was is no crime, but the prosecution would have to work for their money.

Does a drunk driver have intent to kill?

Doesn't seem to stop manslaughter charges for causing a fatal accident.

Plus the repo folks did have intent to break in.

[cordex]

Does a drunk driver have intent to kill?

Doesn't seem to stop manslaughter charges for causing a fatal accident.

Plus the repo folks did have intent to break in.

Some laws require mens rea, others don't.

Be that as it may, the bank owes it to the woman to make the situation right ASAP.  The bank probably should be reimbursed by the repo men's insurance agency - unless the bank set a clearly defined procedure that was followed properly.

[Marnoot]

Problem is, I'm pretty sure burglary requires intent to burgle. Manslaughter doesn't require intent to kill, just intent to do harm, or intent to do something really stupid, depending on the specific charge.

Perhaps there ought to be a charge of negligent burglary? Or perhaps having this handled by tort law as it is is sufficient. I'm not sure.

[Stand_watie]

Problem is, I'm pretty sure burglary requires intent to burgle. Manslaughter doesn't require intent to kill, just intent to do harm, or intent to do something really stupid, depending on the specific charge.

Perhaps there ought to be a charge of negligent burglary? Or perhaps having this handled by tort law as it is is sufficient. I'm not sure.

Criminal trespass would not require intent to steal, just recklessness.

[gunsmith]

the ranch I lived on for yrs is off grid, no utilities at all.
You have to switch on the power, you have to know where the switch is, you have to know where the generators are if the solar/wind isn't on some warm windless night.

[Marnoot]

Criminal trespass would not require intent to steal, just recklessness.

Ah, there we go. I don't imagine the penalties for criminal trespass are too awfully severe, but in this case the results of a good civil trial should be sufficiently punitive, I think, at least against the bank. As for the repo men, a trespass charge is likely about all that could be done.

[Levant]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and take what's not quite a long-shot view.  How about the possibility that she gets nothing.  The judges and courts involved have worked with the banks and repo teams on dozens or hundreds of repossessions.  They're all old friends.

There's nothing except supposition to indicate this outcome but I think it is as likely a possibility as any of the others on this thread.

[Marnoot]

They may be able to make it harder to get it to trial but if she can get it before a jury there will be at least less a corrupt judge could do to stop the bank from having to pay up. The jury is going to sympathize with the plaintiff in this case, not the bank.

[RoadKingLarry]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and take what's not quite a long-shot view.  How about the possibility that she gets nothing.  The judges and courts involved have worked with the banks and repo teams on dozens or hundreds of repossessions.  They're all old friends.

There's nothing except supposition to indicate this outcome but I think it is as likely a possibility as any of the others on this thread.

Killdozer time.

[KD5NRH]

Ah, there we go. I don't imagine the penalties for criminal trespass are too awfully severe, but in this case the results of a good civil trial should be sufficiently punitive, I think, at least against the bank. As for the repo men, a trespass charge is likely about all that could be done.

Recklessness wouldn't be hard to prove, given the visible house numbers.  Criminal trespass in Ohio is only a 4th degree misdemeanor, but still, a $250 fine and 30 days in jail for someone who actually earns a living is a strong incentive to be careful about how they're earning that living.

How many of us wouldn't suffer a lot more from a full month out of circulation than that one job probably paid?

[Tallpine]

I don't see how you can break into a house without intent to break into the house.

Like a defensive shooting, you may be justified - for instance if it is your own house* or a house belonging to the bank that you work for.

But you better be damn sure that it is the right house.


* I was told by my attorney that I better not break into my own house and throw out the previous owner's stuff.