Barbary Coast – A Foreclosure Crisis Rooted, the Family Says, in Predatory Lending
Giuseppa Bagnarol, 82, was in her final hours in August, dying at home surrounded by the large family she presided over as matriarch.
They gathered to say goodbye at the bucolic Redwood City retreat Mrs. Bagnarol had created — a compound of three homes cascading down a steep hillside where she raised chickens. Some of her children and grandchildren live on the grounds.
But that night an unwanted visitor arrived: a process server delivered papers that ordered Mrs. Bagnarol and her family to get out. The bank had foreclosed on their property, and they were all being evicted.
Emotions exploded. Not now, the family cursed. A sheriff’s deputy was called to keep the peace. Mrs. Bagnarol died a day later.