Relief for Ruth
Donation protected
Our Nanny, Ruth, is one of the best people on the planet. As any parent knows, the ability to leave your child in someone's care, and never question that they'll be safe, is invaluable. She's selfless, kind, generous, and incredibly hardworking and we've been so lucky to have her as a part of our family for the past 3 years. However, right now, she needs help.
Here's Ruth's story:
In 2004, Ruth was poised to purchase a home. She'd placed her name on a waiting list at a new development the previous year, and then finally got the call; however, in the interim, her credit was ruined by her ex-boyfriend who racked up debt on Ruth's credit cards. This made it very difficult to qualify for a home loan. Ruth turned to her brother to sign for the property, believing that of all people in the world, she could trust him being on title to her home. Sadly, that misplaced trust would be costly.
13 years later, her brother was evicted from his residence. He was newly married, and his wife was pregnant. Desperate times called for desperate measures. So, in 2017, he texted Ruth and asked her, "Is my name still on your home?" Ruth told him, yes, and asked how she could help. Her brother's response was to hire an attorney and try to take Ruth's home, declaring himself the owner, since he was on title.
What's worse, he was successful in evicting Ruth from HER OWN HOME that she'd been living in and paying the mortgage on for the past 13 years.
You might wonder how that could ever happen in our justice system....I certainly did when Ruth came to our house after the eviction hearing, visibly shaken and distraught by the experience.
It was at that point that I started to learn of all of the injustices that were taking place for one of the most important people in my life. Ruth, true to her character, never wanted to bother us with her problems, but as I dug, the simple answer as to how things went so wrong is that she had horrible representation. She'd hired an unethical attorney, who forged her name on documents, which contained lies that Ruth would never utter. By doing so, he'd set Ruth up to look like a liar in front of the judge at the initial eviction hearing. Ruth took the stand, told the truth, only to have the fraudulent documents used as a weapon against her. I also learned that attorney gambled her entire defense to the eviction on a legal technicality involving the service of the lawsuit, as opposed to claiming her rightful ownership in the property.
At that hearing, the judge never heard any evidence of Ruth's ownership of the property, never saw the checks from her down payments on the house, or the text messages that she had in her phone from her brother admitting she was the owner. ["Is my name still on your house?"]
Despite the eviction, her fight was not over. Ruth was faced with a horrible choice: 1) Let her brother steal her home, losing everything she'd worked for over the past 13 years in the process, or 2) Pay more money to retain competent counsel to fight to get her home back. She chose to fight, and we helped her find incredible attorneys, but the battle ahead was a tough, and costly one.
I'm thrilled to report that after an 8-day trial earlier this year, in front of the same judge who evicted her, the justice system corrected its previous error. The judge finally got to hear ALL of the evidence of her ownership and awarded her the home, forcing her brother to deed the property to Ruth. While Ruth was elated and vindicated by the verdict, the cost of justice was steep. Legal bills are coming in from the litigation that have topped $160,000. That amount is already discounted as her new attorneys [who were AWESOME] reduced their rates and cut their billed hours in light of the injustice they helped cure.
Even more upsetting is that Ruth's journey through this hell is not over. When Ruth finally got back into her home last week, she found it in shambles and completely unkempt. Her brother had ripped toilets from the ground, drywall from the walls, and spray painted the flooring.
She filed a police report to document the damage. However, there's little hope of recovering anything from her deadbeat brother, who has reportedly filed for bankruptcy.
My wife and I wish we had the funds to tell Ruth, "We will fix it all for you," but that's not our financial reality. What we can do is support her with love and try to help her in every way we can. I've never set up a "GoFundMe" page, but I thought Ruth's story was one that should be shared on this platform to tap into people's compassion and generosity. Our hope is that any money raised will help Ruth through this trying time of putting her home, and life, back together after this difficult ordeal.
Here's Ruth's story:
In 2004, Ruth was poised to purchase a home. She'd placed her name on a waiting list at a new development the previous year, and then finally got the call; however, in the interim, her credit was ruined by her ex-boyfriend who racked up debt on Ruth's credit cards. This made it very difficult to qualify for a home loan. Ruth turned to her brother to sign for the property, believing that of all people in the world, she could trust him being on title to her home. Sadly, that misplaced trust would be costly.
13 years later, her brother was evicted from his residence. He was newly married, and his wife was pregnant. Desperate times called for desperate measures. So, in 2017, he texted Ruth and asked her, "Is my name still on your home?" Ruth told him, yes, and asked how she could help. Her brother's response was to hire an attorney and try to take Ruth's home, declaring himself the owner, since he was on title.
What's worse, he was successful in evicting Ruth from HER OWN HOME that she'd been living in and paying the mortgage on for the past 13 years.
You might wonder how that could ever happen in our justice system....I certainly did when Ruth came to our house after the eviction hearing, visibly shaken and distraught by the experience.
It was at that point that I started to learn of all of the injustices that were taking place for one of the most important people in my life. Ruth, true to her character, never wanted to bother us with her problems, but as I dug, the simple answer as to how things went so wrong is that she had horrible representation. She'd hired an unethical attorney, who forged her name on documents, which contained lies that Ruth would never utter. By doing so, he'd set Ruth up to look like a liar in front of the judge at the initial eviction hearing. Ruth took the stand, told the truth, only to have the fraudulent documents used as a weapon against her. I also learned that attorney gambled her entire defense to the eviction on a legal technicality involving the service of the lawsuit, as opposed to claiming her rightful ownership in the property.
At that hearing, the judge never heard any evidence of Ruth's ownership of the property, never saw the checks from her down payments on the house, or the text messages that she had in her phone from her brother admitting she was the owner. ["Is my name still on your house?"]
Despite the eviction, her fight was not over. Ruth was faced with a horrible choice: 1) Let her brother steal her home, losing everything she'd worked for over the past 13 years in the process, or 2) Pay more money to retain competent counsel to fight to get her home back. She chose to fight, and we helped her find incredible attorneys, but the battle ahead was a tough, and costly one.
I'm thrilled to report that after an 8-day trial earlier this year, in front of the same judge who evicted her, the justice system corrected its previous error. The judge finally got to hear ALL of the evidence of her ownership and awarded her the home, forcing her brother to deed the property to Ruth. While Ruth was elated and vindicated by the verdict, the cost of justice was steep. Legal bills are coming in from the litigation that have topped $160,000. That amount is already discounted as her new attorneys [who were AWESOME] reduced their rates and cut their billed hours in light of the injustice they helped cure.
Even more upsetting is that Ruth's journey through this hell is not over. When Ruth finally got back into her home last week, she found it in shambles and completely unkempt. Her brother had ripped toilets from the ground, drywall from the walls, and spray painted the flooring.
She filed a police report to document the damage. However, there's little hope of recovering anything from her deadbeat brother, who has reportedly filed for bankruptcy.
My wife and I wish we had the funds to tell Ruth, "We will fix it all for you," but that's not our financial reality. What we can do is support her with love and try to help her in every way we can. I've never set up a "GoFundMe" page, but I thought Ruth's story was one that should be shared on this platform to tap into people's compassion and generosity. Our hope is that any money raised will help Ruth through this trying time of putting her home, and life, back together after this difficult ordeal.
Organizer
Chris Lawson
Organizer
San Diego, CA