Man Dies in Court Fighting Wrongful Foreclosure, Wells Fargo Now Being Sued for Wrongful Death

On December 19, 2012, Larry Delassus, 62, died of heartdisease during a court hearing at which he was fighting Wells Fargo’s wrongfulforeclosure of his Hermosa Beach condominium. Deborah Popovich, the estate administrator, is now suing the bank forwrongful death among other charges for forcing the ailing Delassus toneedlessly appear in court.

The complaint states that Delassus always made timelymortgage and property tax payments, but Wells Fargo falsely claimed Delassusowed over $13,000 in back taxes, a bank error that really should have beenattributed to his neighbor.  Wells Fargothen doubled Delassus’s mortgage payments and then foreclosed on his condo whenhe was unable to afford the higher payments. Wells Fargo could have caught this mistake by “verifying his property’stax identification number with the county” and still foreclosed “even after thecounty treasurer had confirmed that his property taxes were current and paid.”

Popovich claims that Delassus “succumbed to the pressure offighting Wells Fargo and the heartbreak of losing his home” and that “WellsFargo and its agents should be held accountable for their negligent wrongfuland malicious actions.”

See Matt Reynolds,Elderly Man Allegedly Dies in CourtFighting Wells Fargo ‘Wrongful’ Foreclosure, AlterNet, May 14, 2013.