Local News

Lender Drops Suit Vs. Cook Cty Sheriff On Eviction

Mortgage Lender Wants To Block Sheriff Tom Dart's Eviction Moratorium

CHICAGO (AP) ― A mortgage lender that filed a lawsuit to force the Cook County sheriff to evict a suburban Chicago woman from her home announced Friday it has withdrawn the suit.

Accredited Home Lenders said in a brief statement it would also suspend its eviction action against Shirley McFarland of Dolton from her foreclosed bungalow.

"Upon further consideration of the facts surrounding this matter, we have decided to withdraw our petition against the County and have suspended our eviction action against our former borrower Shirley McFarland," the San Diego-based company said.

A spokesman for the company declined to comment further.

On Wednesday, Sheriff Tom Dart said he would stop sending his deputies on court-ordered mortgage foreclosure evictions because many of those forced from their homes were renters who faithfully paid their rent and in some cases had no idea of the financial problems of their landlords.

Dart made headlines around the nation with his announcement. He and others said they believed he was the first sheriff in a major metropolitan area to take such action during what is a national mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Dart said that often in eviction actions the lenders had not even done the most basic research to determine if the people being evicted are, in fact, the homeowners.

In about a third of the 400-500 foreclosure evictions his deputies carried out a month the residents were not those whose names were on the eviction papers, Dart said.

"We will no longer be a party to something that's so unjust," he said Wednesday.

Dart's office did not have immediate comment on Accredited's decision Friday. Office spokeswoman Penny Mateck said she did not know of any other lawsuits filed against the sheriff.

McFarland has an unlisted telephone number in Dolton and nobody answered the door when an Associated Press reporter went to the house on Friday.

On Thursday, Dart met with Cook County Judge Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird, head of the Chancery Division, to discuss his stance on foreclosure evictions.

During the meeting, Dart suggested Kinnaird require banks to file an affidavit saying the homeowner and potential renters all have been given notice of the pending eviction before calling on deputies to act.

"I've just been trying to come at the entire eviction process from an entirely different way, to take a horrific, traumatic event and make it less so," Dart said after the meeting.

Dart described the meeting as positive, but said the judge did not make any decision.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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