The public auction of the home where Berkeley Supervisor Mary Jones lives was called off Tuesday, an hour after her husband Archbold “Arch” Jones III filed a complaint in Williamsburg James City Circuit Court to stop the sale.
It was the sixth time in less than three years that a public auction of the 3,300-square-foot home has been canceled. The woman handling the sale on the Williamsburg-James City County courthouse steps would not say why the sale was canceled, only that it had been.
Jones filed a complaint for declaratory judgment Tuesday morning, claiming the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act allows him to dispute the debt, which Professional Foreclosure Corporation says totaled $468,998.47 as of Feb. 21. The notice of foreclosure has consistently listed the default amount as $342,400. Jones purchased the Jamestown Hundred home in 2007 for $428,000, according to county property records. It is now assessed at $326,300.
Jones, in an April 4 letter to the law firm representing the foreclosure company, says while the letter is “not a refusal to pay,” he disputes the “identity of a true secured lender/creditor, the existence of debt and the law firm’s authority and capacity to collect on behalf of the alleged lender/creditor.”
He continues: “Because of extensive criminal activity and fraud in this arena, we require proof of the chain of secured ownership from the original alleged lender/creditor to the alleged current lender/creditor. Further, we require proof that you are the entity that has been contracted to work on behalf of the alleged lender/creditor. Therefore I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you.”
On a separate legal track, Jones is trying to revive a bankruptcy claim that was dismissed with prejudice in June 2012. In dismissing the case, Federal Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Santoro barred Arch Jones from filing for bankruptcy again for one year, unless he hired an attorney who could successfully petition the court to remove the “with prejudice” designation.
Jones, who completed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2002, had filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection six times since 2009. “You are not going to continue to come into bankruptcy court to stop these things,” Santoro told Jones before dismissing his case in 2012.
The judge’s decision cleared the way for USAA Savings Bank to resume foreclosure proceedings, which their attorney had sought.
Foreclosure on Jones’ property has been called off at the last minute three times since the June bankruptcy ruling.
Jones, through his attorney Jessica Casey of Newport News, in February filed a petition in bankruptcy court for an emergency hearing, a few days before the last scheduled foreclosure sale of his home. The motion cites the pending foreclosure action and says Jones “would like to retain his residence for a period of time to allow his family to relocate.” The judge refused, citing no emergency, but left open the door for Jones to ask for a lifting of the “with prejudice” designation.
Jones did, and a hearing on that issue is set for Friday morning in Newport News.
Jones could not be reached for comment.
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