The Court House: How One Family Fought Foreclosure

The Court House: How One Family Fought Foreclosure

Faced with the threat of foreclosure, many homeowners give up and abandon their homes.

Then there’s Richard Davet.

He and his wife, Lynn, lived in a six-bedroom home in this Cleveland suburb for nearly 20 years when, in 1996, he was served with a foreclosure lawsuit. Rather than turn over the keys, he hit the law books. Flooding the courts with papers, Mr. Davet staved off foreclosure for 11 years, until this past January, when a county sheriff’s deputy evicted the couple and changed the locks. They didn’t make a mortgage payment the entire time.

“Our four Scottish terriers are buried there,” says the 63-year-old Mr. Davet. “It was heaven on earth, an unbelievable property, and they took it from us like candy from a baby.”