A story in the New York Post:

A Long Island couple is home free after an outraged judge gave them
an amazing Thanksgiving present -- canceling their debt to ruthless
bankers trying to toss them out on the street. Suffolk Judge
Jeffrey Spinner wiped out $525,000 in mortgage payments demanded by a
California bank, blasting its "harsh, repugnant, shocking and
repulsive" acts. The bombshell decision leaves Diane
Yano-Horoski and her husband, Greg Horoski, owing absolutely no money
on their ranch house in East Patchogue. Spinner pulled no
punches as he smacked down the bankers at OneWest -- who took an $814.2
million federal bailout but have a record of coldbloodedly foreclosing
on any homeowner owing money.
It erased up to $291,000 in principal and $235,000 in interest and penalties.
The Horoskis -- who had been paying only interest on their mortgage -- had no
equity in the home.
Horoski, who had begged the bankers to let him restructure the loan,
said, "I think the judge felt it was almost a personal vendetta."
Dealing with the bank, he said, was "like dealing with organized
crime." OneWest said, "We respectfully disagree with the lower
court's unprecedented ruling and we expect that it will be overturned
on appeal." It claimed it "has been extremely active in
working with consumers on home loan modifications through the Obama
administration's Home Affordable Modification Program and other loan
modification initiatives." The bank is owned by a private equity group that
purchased the failed IndyMac bank.
Yano-Horoski, a college professor of English and cognitive reason, and
Horoski, who sells collectible dolls online, bought their
3,400-square-foot, one-level house 15 years ago for less than $200,000.
In 2004, court records show, they refinanced, paying off their
original mortgage with part of a $292,500 sub-prime loan from Deutsche
Bank. They used what was left for health care and for his business. The loan
carried an initial adjustable interest rate of 10.375 percent, which soared to
12.375 percent.
It eventually ended up being either owned or serviced by IndyMac, and
the bank sued the couple in July 2005 when they began having trouble
making payments because of Horoski's health problems. After a foreclosure was
approved last January, Yano-Haroski successfully asked for a court settlement
conference.
Spinner excoriated OneWest for repeatedly refusing to work out a deal,
for misleading him about the dollar amounts at stake in the case, and
for its treatment of the couple over months of hearings. OneWest's conduct was
"inequitable, unconscionable, vexatious and opprobrious," Spinner wrote.
He canceled the debt because the bank "must be appropriately sanctioned
so as to deter it from imposing further mortifying abuse against [the
couple]." The bank is involved in a similar case in
California, where it's trying to foreclose on an 89-year-old woman,
despite two court orders telling it to stop.



mikey