Former Cuban political prisoner on the verge of eviction wins reprieve in court
Former Cuban political prisoner Ana Lazara Rodriguez, who was on the verge of eviction Friday after being served with a writ of possession — the final document in the eviction process that gives recipients 24 hours to vacate the premises — was granted a reprieve Monday by Miami Circuit Judge Peter R. Lopez, who stayed the writ until an evidentiary hearing in the case slated for July 28.
On that date, lawyers for Rodriguez, 82, will lay out evidence they say proves Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon committed fraud by using robo-signing and rubber-stamping forged endorsements during the initial phase of the foreclosure in 2010 that led to the current eviction.
Rodriguez had been ordered in May to come up with a bond of $100,000 in order to stay the writ, which she was unable to do.
Bruce Jacobs, the attorney representing Rodriguez, said Monday’s stay was a result of a June 2 ruling by Judge Beatrice Butchko in a separate, unrelated case one day before Miami-Dade Police served the writ on Rodriguez’s door.
In that hearing, Butchko ordered Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America, Carrington Mortgage Services and their attorney Nathaniel Callahan, a partner at the Akerman LLP law firm, to appear for arraignment on June 25 to contest charges of contempt of court on charges of perjury during a hearing on fraud. Although that case — involving a foreclosure on Julie Nicolas, a single mother of two who lost her home — is unrelated, it involves the same banks and charges of fraud as those in Rodriguez’s case.
Last-minute reprieve
On Friday, the day Rodriguez was scheduled to be evicted, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava ordered the Miami-Dade police department to stand down, arguing Rodriguez’s defense had not had its day in court yet.
“Mayor Levine Cava ordered the police not to proceed with the writ and get ahead of the case until the legal process could play out in the court,” said Rachel Johnson, spokesperson for the mayor.
Jacobs, the attorney representing Rodriguez, took Monday’s ruling as a victory in his ongoing efforts to prove the banks involved committed widespread fraud by preying on the elderly and minorities after the 2008 real estate crash.
“Ana is saving her house because Judge Lopez had to follow the law,” Jacobs said. “The mayor of Miami-Dade County intervened to stop the eviction and make sure Judge Lopez had the opportunity to follow the law. We are thankful that he did.”
Rodriguez, who lives with a fellow former Cuban political prisoner suffering from Alzheimer’s, inherited the home in 2008 soon after it had been refinanced by Countrywide Financial, one of the subprime mortgage companies that was forced to settle claims of discrimination against predatory loans during the recession.
Countrywide was bought by Bank of America in 2008. The home went into foreclosure in 2010 after Rodriguez fell behind on her payments. According to court records, Rodriguez filed for bankruptcy in 2014. But Bank of New York Mellon, which had taken over the mortgage, did not bring a foreclosure case against her until 2019.
In August 2020, the home was bought for $415,000 in cash by Vanessa Veytia, who lives in California. On Monday, her attorney, Pierre G. Mina, could not provide an exact dollar amount to be set as bond, claiming his client’s losses are too great to calculate.
Mina did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
“The Constitution is clear no one can be deprived of their property without due process,” Jacobs said. “A fraudulent foreclosure is not due process.”
