Bank of America Wrongfully Invades
Woman's Home
March 2010
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PA - Angela M. Iannelli of Hampton returned home to find that her house had been wrongly repossessed and winterized, according to a lawsuit filed on March 8 by Attorney Michael Rosenzweig, a partner with Edgar Snyder & Associates. Her locks were changed, her furniture and carpets were damaged, her utility wires were cut, and her pet parrot was missing. However, her mortgage wasn't in default and she was never given any warning that a foreclosure was approaching.
A notice on Ms. Iannelli's door told her to contact Bank of America. According to the lawsuit, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, the bank initially denied knowledge of the wrongful lockout and of the parrot's whereabouts. It also told her to stop calling. Nine days later, the bank told her they had made a mistake and that she could find her pet in Ebensburg, approximately 1 ½ hours away.
Attorney Rosenzweig said that Bank of America didn't send Ms. Iannelli a notice of a 60-day deficiency, as required by state law. "It's almost like she was the victim of a crime," Attorney Rosenzweig said. "Being late on a payment doesn't allow someone to take your house. You have to go through the courts."
The lawsuit says that Ms. Iannelli suffered "severe emotional distress, embarrassment and ridicule" as a result of the company's "de facto foreclosure process and seizure proceedings." Bank of America has issued a statement saying that a third-party contractor they hired to handle foreclosure services went to the wrong address.
"If you or I did to Bank of America what Bank of America did to my client, we would be in prison for 10 years," said Attorney Rosenzweig.
For more information, see the following news coverage:
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