This fundraiser is still ongoing. Hotel costs have risen over the summer and there is still a need. Please read the main story and the updates to find out more. Thank you.

The last few years have been particularly trying for my family, in particular my 73 year old mother, Kathi Derevjanik Celock, who due to the actions of others has become a widow, lost her home of over 30 years, suffered financial losses of approximately $1.5 million, developed a heart condition, suffered an injury that has caused her to be unable to drive or work at a job she loves for over a year and caused her to be rushed to the hospital too many times. I am starting this GoFundMe to help her out in this very trying time.

Let me start from the beginning. This is a bit of a long story but I wanted to make sure you understand everything that happened and why I started this.

My parents became victims of mortgage fraud at the hands of their new mortgage servicer starting in 2013. This company has a long history of fraudulent practices, has been sued by all the state attorneys general, has billions in fines and settlements and has been banned from doing business in 14 states. New Jersey is not one of these states. My parents had no say in this servicer, as it was assigned by the mortgage holder.

My parents handled the case themselves early on, with my late father, Michael D. Celock, tapping his expertise in due diligence and corporate internal investigations and my mom tapping her background as a retired officer of the third largest bank in the country. The stress from dealing with this exacerbated my father’s atrial fibrillation and my mother had a heart attack in 2015 and then had a stent put in.

On Feb. 25, 2017, the mortgage servicer sent my father a letter about a loan modification he never applied for or approved. My father died in the early morning hours of Feb. 26, 2017. My father’s cardiologist said the stress from this contributed to his death.

My mother continued to pursue the case and had two attorneys, one worse than the first. She encountered a series of baffling court rules that at times defied common sense. One judge said that she could not discuss fraud in his court but did not transfer the case to the court where fraud could be discussed. This same judge would write an in opinion that my mom would have won the case if fraud was considered.

The court moved forward with selling the house and my mom appealed and started that process. She also entered into what she thought were good faith negotiations with the servicer’s attorneys to keep the house. The servicer’s attorneys also sent her an email saying they wanted to reach a settlement by the end of August 2019. My mom went to a routine court hearing in July 2019 and the servicer’s attorney said they wanted us out of the house the following Monday, July 29, 2019. My mom explained the August deadline and the judge refused to listen and my mom passed out and was taken to the hospital. We had to leave on July 29, 2019.

The servicer’s attorneys hired an unlicensed mover to move our stuff out of the house and they damaged or destroyed almost all of the contents from furniture to clothes to priceless mementos. Among the severely damaged items were my mom’s wedding dress, a pot my great grandmother gave my grandfather when he immigrated to this country in 1938 so he’d always have a pot to cook in to some of the very first gifts my father gave to my mother. At times I could see my clothes were treated better than my mother’s.

My mother has continued to pursue this case and has worked with several state and federal regulatory agencies and she was recently told she needs to bring back to the Courts, which she is in the process of doing.

My mother has sustained approximately $1.5 million in damage from this, including loss of the house and contents. This does not include the loss of priceless mementos and my father’s death.

The story does not end there. Due to the losses from this, living in hotel became a default, because there is no furniture, linens, pots, pans, etc. After a few hotel changes one hotel became “home” starting in February 2020. Under New Jersey law, once you’ve stayed in a hotel for 90 days you become a tenant.

A little over a year ago the hotel manager started playing games with my mother’s account and claiming she money when she did not. On Dec. 6, 2021, when my mother returned from work (she is a substitute teacher in the Clark Public Schools), the manager accosted her in the lobby and started to berate her and call her a “financially incompetent old lady” and generally discuss her business in front of anyone there. My mother was able to leave the conversation and come upstairs.

On Dec. 13, 2021 the manager would again accost my mother when she came home and repeat his behavior of the prior week, again claiming she owed money she did not owe. My mother has a condition where her blood pressure can suddenly spike and drop under extreme stress and this is what happened. She passed out and hit her head on a tile floor. She was rushed to Overlook Hospital and was diagnosed with a concussion and also had to have a cardiac catherization performed that week and a cardiac defibrillator implanted that week, all due to the manager’s actions. The concussion later turned into post concussive syndrome and my mother has not been able to work or drive since Dec. 13, 2021.

As a note, my mother loves her job as a substitute teacher in Clark. My mom has bachelor’s degree in business administration and worked in banking (corporate finance, marketing in Upper Manhattan and retail banking) and then became a stay at home mother and worked with my father in his management consulting business. She went into subbing in Clark in 2007 and fell in love with her second career. She obtained her license as a social studies teacher. She really enjoys subbing at the elementary and middle school levels. She really enjoys the days she spends in the classroom and misses being able to be in the classroom. She misses her colleagues and she misses the kids. She adores working with the Clark community and she cannot wait for the day when her doctors clear her to return to the classroom.

While my mother was in ths hospital following the events of Dec. 13, 2021, the manager continued to demand meetings with her, meeting with me. He insisted on a meeting with her on Dec. 20, under threat of eviction. He also said only his agenda could be discussed and he could not be contradicted. I insisted the meeting be held in the room so my mother could stay in bed since she was days past two cardiac surgical procedures. The meeting occurred and the manager and his deputy refused to engage in any sort of dialogue and said if my mother did not agree with his version he would do an eviction. My mother disputed his numbers and said so, the manager started berating her and she passed out in bed. The manager and his deputy promptly left and I called 911 and my mom would spend most of the week in the hospital. The manager wanted us out two days later.

I contacted an attorney who advised the hotel manager that my mother achieved legal tenancy status and he could not evict at will. He also told the manager that he could not do price gouging, which he had started to do. The manager wrote back saying there would be an eviction on Dec. 22 and I had to call the police to put a stop to this.

The manager then started to cut back or deny services. For instance, housekeeping was cut to three times a week and then cut totally. He refused to allow us a key to the room, the front desk had to let us in, at times making us wait up to 10 minutes. He was prone to harassment when you saw him in the lobby and sharing my mother’s financial information loudly in the lobby. He engaged in illegal rent hikes and violated New Jersey’s reprisal law.

My mother went back and reviewed all of the accounting and saw that she did not owe any money and the hotel owed her money.

My mother also contacted attorneys who said you cannot contest a landlord says you owe money in New Jersey and they would represent her but she could not win. She chose to go pro se.

The landlord sued in late February 2022 and my mother entered a world of very bizarre court rules. During an April Zoom hearing the judge kept saying only the hotel’s accounting could be accepted and he could not talk about any of the other issues because the landlord said she owed money. The judge encouraged her to apply for a rental assistance program but my mother found out she would have to use the numbers from the hotel, which included the gouged rates. My mother realized that would be fraud because the numbers were fraudulent. She advised the Court of this. The stress from the April Zoom hearing caused my mother to become ill and she was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Her cardiologist would inform the judge of her condition and the need for her to avoid stress. The doctor also asked for a June court date so she could have more time to recover.

The judge again refused to consider my mother’s numbers and said only the hotel’s numbers could be considered. The judge ruled for the landlord and my mother then wrote a letter saying she had more evidence and the judge vacated his decision and scheduled a July 1 hearing but wanted it in person and not on Zoom.

At the July 1 hearing the judge berated my mother and said her numbers did not match the hotel’s and he wanted them redone in a format he wanted. The judge also said her arguments belonged in the Law Division but gave no path to transfer. He gave her five minutes to redo the numbers to his liking. When he returned he could not understand why my mother could not redo over two years of numbers in five minutes and saw her take nitro. My mom passed out in Court and the EMTs found her to be in hypertensive crisis and she was rushed to a hospital a block away with police escort to block busy downtown traffic. Luckily the treatment worked and she was released a few days later and told to avoid stress.

Over the course of this my mother has been blamed by the Court for adjournments, all of which she requested for health reasons. Over the summer the hotel’s attorney and the judge got adjournments for vacations.

Also, in September my mother’ post concussive syndrome became a vestibular system issue, complete with vertigo and nausea. This has led to a rehab program and complicated her plans to return to work. She walks with a cane.

A new judge was assigned and the case continued. We sought a transfer to the Law Division, where all the evidence could be heard. The judge allowed a hearing on this but denied it on a technicality and that motions to transfer are “rarely granted.” He also said the Court values speed on these cases. He also dismissed arguments about the Supremacy Clause saying New Jersey’s Court Rules take precedence over the Supremacy Clause.

During this my mother was in and out of the hospital multiple times and had many doctors’ appointments. She had a cardiac catherization done on Dec. 2. She has been unable to avoid stress.

The judge granted an eviction in late November and my mother filed new motions and because of the Dec. 2 procedure, the judge granted a Dec. 30 deadline for updated papers. There is a very detailed process to evict in New Jersey and none of it was followed. My mother was never given a Warrant of Removal by a Court Officer with a Vacate Date. On Dec. 21, the hotel manager showed up with a log of the warrant saying the Vacate Date was Dec. 21. We contacted the Court who granted a stay for the Dec. 30 deadline and that a removal could not be executed until Jan. 9 through Feb. 8. My mother was rushed to the hospital from this.

On Jan. 3 the judge denied my mother’s new motions but never gave a Vacate Date. On Jan. 6, a Court Officer was at the door with a Warrant of Removal saying the judge wanted us out right or face arrest. My mother started to have chest pains and I called 911 and the hotel manager was there claiming my mother was faking and playing games. I frantically packed and my mother was taken by ambulance. Since then we’ve been in other hotels thanks to friends or a friend’s house.

I have had economic loss from all of this. I have spent a lot of time on this. Due to the vestibular issues my mother cannot look at screens for long periods and I do most of the research and writing and when you’re a self-employed consultant you cannot suddenly have a personal issue take up all of your time without loss. I do not regret my choice here, I did what I needed to do for my mom. I am just outlining the impact. This does not include other money I’ve spent over the last few years related to this.

Especially over the last year I’ve seen my strong, independent mother deprived of a large degree of independence and a job she loves. She walks with a cane now. She cannot drive. She’s been the target of lots of stress. She has appointments planned with a head and neck surgeon and a new cardiac specialist this month, both were recommended by her doctors.

I am doing this drive to raise money to help out and get through this period and be able to get back on track. This would be for a hotel or some sort of apartment. As I said there is no furniture or pots or pans or linens so that all comes into play. This money would be for very basic needs and to get us through this very tough time and allow me to avoid asking on a day to day basis.

I will be truly grateful to anyone who helps out, as would my mother.

Thank you.

John