Partner David M. Rubin and Associate Alexander K. Parachini won a pro bono bench trial in which they secured a judgment and punitive damages for their client, Donna Grosvenor of Brooklyn, NY, who lost her home in a mortgage fraud scam.
Ms. Grosvenor, who lived in her Brooklyn home since 1978 and was caring for an ill family member, wanted to refinance her mortgage to a lower monthly payment. In 2008, while seeking assistance in refinancing, she unknowing got caught up in an elaborate mortgage fraud scam involving the sale of her home to a straw buyer who took out a larger mortgage on her home in his name and transferred the title of the property back her. Unable to make the new mortgage payments, she was forced out of her home through foreclosure proceeding in July 2015 and has been homeless ever since.
The case took five years to get to trial. Hon. Francois A. Rivera, New York State Supreme Court, Kings County Justice, issued his decision from the bench. One of the defendants was a former attorney who was disbarred for similar conduct in other cases. Justice Rivera adopted all of the GEAB&P team’s findings of facts and conclusions of law, and issued a judgment and punitive damages totaling over $400,000.
David M. Rubin was also recently reappointed as Panel Chair and Member of the Departmental Disciplinary Committee for the First Judicial Department.