Tit for tat

We've all read about some of the outrageous actions taken by banks over the last several years in the wake of the decline in the housing market: banks foreclosing on mortgages that weren't delinquent, even a few cases where banks foreclosed on homes which weren't mortgaged at all. Well, one Florida couple whose home was wrongfully foreclosed pushed back in a truly unique fashion: they essentially foreclosed on the bank.

The Florida incident arose when the bank foreclosed on Warren and Maureen Nyerges of Golden Gate Estates in Naples. This surprised the Nyerges, since they had no mortgage--not with BofA or with anybody else. They had paid cash for their home in 2009.

Warren Nyerges made phone calls to the bank to try to get them to desist. "I talked to branch managers, I called anyone who would listen to me," he told the Naples News. "I wrote a certified letter to the [bank] president. No response, nothing." Finally he hired an attorney. Two months later, the foreclosure had been dismissed.

Nyerges then sought to recover his attorney's fees, and got a judgment against the bank. Five more months passed: more phone calls, more letters; no payment. Nyerges went back to court and got a writ of execution, which gave him permission to seize bank assets in payment for his judgment.

On June 3, Nyerges, two sheriff's deputies and a moving truck showed up at the local BofA branch. The deputies informed the manager that he could either pay the Nyerges' legal fees— $2,500—or the movers would start taking away the bank's furniture and cash. The manager, after conferring with his superiors, gave the deputies a check.

Bravo Mr. and Mrs. Nyerges! Well played.