Judge orders the Earl Family to Vacate Foreclosed Home

Jim and Danielle Earl and their nine children

have a week from Monday to pack up and leave,

according to Brian Troop, president of

Troop Real Estate Inc.,

(stay tuned for Dylan Ratigan next week....sparks are going to fly)

By Stephanie Hoops
Ventura County Star
10/15/10

A Simi Valley family who took their attorney’s advice to disregard a court’s ruling and move back into their foreclosed home was ordered Friday by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane to vacate the property.

Jim and Danielle Earl and their nine children have a week from Monday to pack up and leave, according to Brian Troop, president of Troop Real Estate Inc., the brokerage company that represented the investor who purchased the property at a foreclosure sale in January.

The Earl family’s lawyer, Michael T. Pines of Encinitas, told Lane the family would move back into the home, Troop said.

“When he was ruled against he said right in front of the judge we’re going to move them back in afterwards.”

Pines does not deny the family intends to return to the house because he said the judge ordered them to leave, not to leave permanently. The judge denied a permanent injunction.

“I do not dispute the judge said they have to leave the home,” he said. “If the sheriff comes they have to leave, but they can go back in. She specifically denied them any order that they have to permanently leave.

“I would characterize it not as a vigilante but as unusual,” he said. “The banks have a very effective propaganda machine and have brainwashed everybody into thinking property owners are wrong.”

He’s urging his clients to push back against foreclosures — and the Earl family is not the only one. On Tuesday, Pines prompted an Escondido family to use force to get back into their home. On Wednesday, Pines and another client were arrested in Newport Beach for trespassing when they broke into a house there.

Asked about the Newport Beach arrest, Pines said: “We will be filing a legal action, potentially a class action, against the city, which I really regret.”

Ventura lawyer Michael Sment — the chairman of the Ventura County Bar bankruptcy section who teaches business law and real estate at Oxnard College — said he recently discussed Pines’ actions with some local judges.

“Anybody that’s experienced is pretty shocked by what he’s doing,” he said. “The attorney is not local, and I don’t know why somebody would try to offend a judge, but that’s what he’s doing.”

Sment believes the 50 attorneys general nationwide who are gearing up to probe improper foreclosure practices are the proper officials to be dealing with the situation.

“We don’t allow people to just break in and take property just because you think it’s yours,” Sment said. “If we allowed people to do that in California or the United States, we would have complete chaos and anarchy.”

The Earls used a locksmith to help retake their house Oct. 9, and the Simi Valley Police, who were there, did not intervene. But Troop hopes that won’t be the case if it happens again. Troop said he met with the city attorney, city manager and Simi Valley Police Department Friday to discuss the situation.

“They are going to be a little more proactive,” he said. “They recommended that (the investor) get a restraining order against (Pines), so they are in the process of consulting with their attorney to accommodate that.”

Simi Valley Police Lt. Roy Jones was not at that meeting but said “certainly if we’re called out to a scene we’ll do whatever’s appropriate. We’ll do our best to enforce the law impartially.”

The Earls say they are victims of robo-signers, employees and lawyers of major lenders who filed faulty paperwork by robotically signing off on thousands of defaulted loans without taking time to fully review the files.

Troop said the Earls had ample opportunity to save their home from foreclosure but had not made payments for two years.

The Earl family bought the Simi Valley house in 2001 for $539,000 with a loan originating with First City Funding, dba Credit Corp. In 2005 they refinanced with an $880,000 loan. In February, the trustee’s deed upon sale indicated unpaid debt with costs on the property just over $1 million.

The investor, Thousand Oaks-based Conejo Capital Partners LLC, spent $697,000 to purchase the house and another $40,000 to remodel it, Troop said. The two-story house in the 5800 block of Mustang Drive has nearly 4,000 square feet, six bedrooms and 4.5 baths.

Another family had scheduled to close escrow Monday and was getting ready to move in, but has since backed out of the deal, Troop said.

“They’re afraid these people will keep coming back and breaking in over and over again, and they have three small children and don’t want to put their children at risk,” he said.


Special thanks to Vigilant Grandpa reader and commenter Todd Uebele for the head's up on the judges order.