Larry Delassus, a 62-year-old disabled veteran, died in court last month while continuing a three-year battle against Wells Fargo for foreclosing on his Hermosa Beach home – a battle he had to fight even though court records show he paid his mortgage two months ahead of schedule and also paid his property taxes in advance.
He suffered heart failure Dec. 19 while his attorney argued against a tentative ruling issued by a Torrance Courthouse judge siding with Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo called Delassus’s death “tragic,” but it was Wells Fargo that put Delassus into default when the bank mistakenly thought Delassus was behind in his property taxes. In fact, the bank was using an incorrect assessor’s parcel number that corresponded to Delassus’s neighbor’s home.
Delassus’s attorney and close friend, Anthony Trujillo of Redondo Beach, working the case on contingency, discovered the bank error and informed the bank. Wells Fargo acknowledged the error, fixed Delassus’s credit history but still proceeded with selling Delassus’s home at auction, according to deposition testimony and court documents.
When both parties appeared in court Dec. 19 for a preliminary hearing, Delassus, suffering liver disease, was in a wheelchair in the back of the courtroom, incoherent and breathing loudly.
Judge Laura Ellison told Trujillo the facts of the case did not appear to justify Delassus’s claim of fraud and negligence.
In response, Trujillo spent most of an hour reviewing, out loud, bank documents that indicate Delassus was never late on a mortgage payment or property tax bill. He argued that putting him in default was an error originally created by the bank’s tax service subcontractor.
As the proceedings played out, Delassus went into cardiac arrest.
“He was sure that when a judge heard that he was never even late on a payment, that [the judge] would do something,” said Debbie Popovich, a friend who arrived in court with Delassus.
On May 13, 2011, the bank had conducted the trustee sale of Delassus’s condominium for $270,000. The buyer re-sold it a few months for $440,000, according to public documents.
Hat tip to daytrip – read full story here:
Delassus’ attorney Anthony Trujillo, a friend and next-door neighbor, recalls deposing Wells Fargo Litigation Support Manager Michael Dolan in 2012, and asked what his definition of “fair” was.
“Fair is a place where they have ponies and merry-go-rounds,” Dolan said.
This is terrible. 🙁 the bank should be ashamed that they didn’t fix their error. This shouldn’t have even gone to court?!
Wow, this really pisses me off! I was going to say that I’m ashamed to be a WF customer, but the reality is they’re all just as bad – or worse!
>… they’re all just as bad – or worse!
You could try credit unions. Though, TBH, I’m not sure where they come in on the badness scale either.
WF inherited me from Wachovia, then added fees etc. 🙁 So I closed my meager WF accounts.
Stories like this continue to convince me that WF – like many big banks – are just not for me any more. The respect that my parents and grandparents had for these big guys are a thing of the past.
In addition to credit unions, let me cast an unsolicited vote for for your small community banks.
My vote for quote of the week:
Fair is a place where they have ponies and merry-go-rounds.
Also, I agree with NewHorizon. There are local community banks that are more liquid than the usual suspects, and would handle a problem like that war vets with a lot more finesse. Some are even essentially family owned and operated.
If you don’t want to do business with the axis of evil, just do a bit of research, and find which banks available to you are liquid. By that, I mean which banks that could endure a run on them, and still be open for business the next day, while not touching a cent of their FDIC insurance. There are a few of them around. The press, apparently, doesn’t find it very newsworthy to report on banks that are responsible.
Those banks are operated essentially the same way banks were when your grandpa was alive, and they’re still around if you look.
I’m not trying to be critical of Kwapings complaint, but I don’t think it’s a valid one. You just need to do a little research. It’s not that hard. There’s still some good guys around.
Well, now that this case is old, its time to tell the true facts. Trujillo is the bad guy and took lots of things out of context. He did ask if it what happened was fair. The witness responded that fair means different things to different people, and so what does fair me to Mr. Trujillo. Me Trujillo snapped back what do you define fair as. Of course, that never made it to the papers but it is part of the official transcript. By the way, Mr. Delassus was in critical condition at a hospice when Mr Trujillo forced him to go to the LA courthouse that day. The hospice staff protested, but Mr Trujillo said his appearance was mandatory. There was no reason for Mr. Delassus to be there, except to provide a photo opportunity for Trujillo. Trujillo later sued for wrongful death, but that was dismissed.