TX Nat'l Guard To Help Officer, Wife In Effort To Reclaim Title To F'closed Free & Clear $300K Home Sold Over $800 HOA Debt While Away On Active Duty

In Frisco, Texas, WFAA-TV published a follow-up story on its report on servicemember Capt. Michael Clauer and his wife, May, who recently lost their free and clear home in a foreclosure sale over unpaid fees of $800 owed to their homeowners' association while he was away on active duty in Iraq.

• When the warning letters sent via certified mail by the HOA came back unclaimed, it foreclosed on the Clauers' home and sold it at auction.(1) After that, May Clauer failed to sign for the certified letters saying she had six months to get the home back, under the law. The $300,000 property — which the Clauers owned free and clear — sold for $3,500 in back dues and real estate fees. "Selling a house for less than two percent — a little over one percent of what its value is — it seems harsh," Capt. Clauer said.

• But the attention the Clauers are getting is not just from the public on the Internet. Lawmakers — both state and federal — have offered help, and so has the Texas National Guard. It is now providing legal advice in the Clauers' lawsuit to keep their home.(2)

For the story, see National Guard vows to 'not leave behind' officer who lost home to HOA.

See also, Soldier fighting to keep house (While the former Dubuquer was on active duty in Iraq, the homeowners' association foreclosed on his Texas home because of $800 in late dues).

In an earlier post on this story, see Active Duty Texan Returns Home To Find $300,000, Free & Clear Residence Sold Out From Under Him By HOA Over $800 Unpaid Fee.

(1) A case can be made here that, when the certified mailings were returned undelivered, an obligation was triggered upon the homeowners' association to take further action to try to provide effective notice to the homeowners before selling their home.

In Jones v. Flowers, 547 U.S. 220, 126 S. Ct. 1708 (2006), a case involving the loss of a home in a government tax sale, the U.S. Supreme Court held that when mailed notice of a tax sale is returned undelivered, constitutional due process required that the foreclosing party in that case take additional reasonable steps to attempt to provide notice to the owner before selling the property. Public Citizen Litigation Group successfully represented the homeowner in this case.

For the Public Citizen press release in this case, see U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Is Major Victory for Due Process Rights; State Did Nothing to Notify Owner of Tax Sale After Mail Was Returned Undelivered (Public Citizen Represented Man Whose House Was Seized).

Go here for the links to the transcript of the oral argument, and the various briefs filed in Jones v. Flowers.

(2) The Clauers have set up a fund to help them pay for defending their property. Contributions can be sent to:

Clauer Legal Defense Fund
c/o Plains Capital Bank
1629 Hebron Parkway
West Carrollton, TX 75010