Sheriff Under Fire For Restraining Foreclosure Evictions

October 15th, 2008

The Sheriff of Cook County, Tom Dart is under fire from the lenders for doing something very unconventional – restraining foreclosure evictions.

Foreclosures are causing tenants to be thrown out unceremoniously because their landlords have been foreclosed upon. Diane Limas and few others were ready to march to the Sheriff’s office protesting against the high handedness of lenders who were using the Sheriff’s deputies for the task. The Sheriff however was not there to meet them.

Limas and other co-sufferers had been happy with the announcement of Dart that he would no longer send his staff to evict the tenants who had indirectly become foreclosure victims. They had been current in their rental remittances and felt unjustly victimized. It was a big gesture on the part of the Sheriff that he had come forward boldly to champion their cause. He was even prepared to face the legal fall out for his decision not to carry out court orders.

The lenders were not going to accept this lying low. Accredited Home Lenders filed a suit to compel Dart to obey and carry out the eviction of Shirley McFarland residing at Dolton in a bungalow that had been foreclosed. The attorneys representing the lenders said that Dart may have personal sympathies for the victims but his position as Sheriff demanded that he obey the orders of the court.

Dart had a meeting with a judge to find out ways and means to see that tenants are given time and notified well ahead when they become victims of eviction notices. He also wanted the banks to identify those who would be dispossessed. After the meeting Dart said that he had been trying to take up the eviction process from an entirely different angle. He wanted to minimize the “horrific, traumatic event and make it less so.” The stand taken by Dart makes him stand out among his peers as someone extraordinary.

Sheriff Keith Nygren of McHenry however reminded that a court order is a court order and there is no scope in it about wanting to obey it or not.

Dart, now 46, was elected Sheriff three years previously. He is different from others in so much that he did not come from a police background. Immediately upon assuming office he brought about rapid changes dispensing with the trappings of his post. Coming from a man like him the action against foreclosure eviction is not surprising.