Ex-Ohio AG Resurfaces In Cleveland Lending A Hand In Attempt To Retake Home Lost In Foreclosure; Says Void Judgment Means "No Sale"

In Cleveland, Ohio, The Wall Street Journal Law blog reports:

• When we last brought you word of Marc Dann, he was resigning as Ohio’s attorney general amid a sexual harrassment scandal. Where is he now? Turns out the former “Mortgage Cop,” as he was dubbed in this 2007 WSJ profile [requires subscription; those without a subscription, go here, then click the link for the full story], is back on the beat. What’s more, he hooked up with Cleveland activist Richard Davet, the pro se litigant whose 11-year foreclosure battle is the subject of this WSJ Page One story [those without a subscription, go here, then click link for the story]. (For prior LB posts on Davet click here and here.) Dann is trying to help Davet take back ownership of his six-bedroom home in the Cleveland suburb of Beachwood, from which he was evicted more than two years ago.

***

• As a pro se litigant, Davet held off foreclosure for 11 years but eventually lost. On July 2, Dann helped Davet file this complaint against the owners of Davet’s former home, saying they entered the home “in reliance on a void ab initio judgment of foreclosure.” Translation: the Ohio state court that ruled in favor of foreclosure had no standing to hear the case.

• The defendant in Davet’s suit, Paul Mikhli, a dentist who bought Davet’s home, once told the Law Blog he was “a little nervous” about the nonstop litigation over the house. Should Mr. Davet succeed, Mikhli told us, title insurance should cover his expenses.

***

• Dann, who now operates a solo firm in Cleveland, mostly does legal work for unions but also has four pro bono foreclosure-defense cases. He wouldn’t say whether Davet’s case is one of those four, but he did say the case is Property Law 101: “When a court doesn’t have jurisdiction, there can be no judgment.”(1)

For the full story, see Former Ohio AG Marc Dann Reprising Mortgage Cop Role.

For posts that reference the failure of mortgage lenders and their attorneys to file the proper paperwork when bringing foreclosure actions, Go Here, Go Here, Go Here, Go Here, Go Here, Go Here, and Go Here.

(1) For some recent case law addressing the connection between a party in a court action not having the legal standing to bring a lawsuit and a court not having jurisdiction to entertain the lawsuit, see Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Lack Of Standing & Void Judgments. EpsilonMissingDocsMtg