Judge grants former Cuban political prisoner temporary reprieve on eviction from Miami home
Ana Lazara Rodriguez, the former Cuban political prisoner who was scheduled to be evicted from her Miami home on Tuesday, won a reprieve in court on Thursday.
Judge Peter L. Lopez granted Bruce Jacobs, one of the attorneys representing Rodriguez, a delay until Sept. 10 to argue the case before the Third District Court of Appeal. Attorneys David Winker and Ray Wasson are co-counsel. All are working pro bono.
Jacobs plans to ask the Third District Court to continue to stay the eviction so he can present his case to the Florida Supreme Court.
Jacobs argues that Bank of New York Mellon, which foreclosed on Rodriguez’s three-bedroom home in 2018, committed fraud and violated Florida’s RICO statute by using a robo-signed mortgage assignment and later a forged rubber-stamped endorsement by Countrywide. Forgery is a crime in Florida.
“We are going to ask the Third District Court to follow the Constitution,” said Jacobs, who has been waging a legal battle against Bank of New York Mellon and Bank of America, claiming the institutions never stopped presenting fake evidence in foreclosures, even after the $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement a decade ago.
“You cannot have banks committing fraud on the court with impunity,” Jacobs said.
The judge had previously ruled that the Sheriff’s Office could serve Rodriguez with a writ of possession — the last step in the eviction process — on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
The eviction was filed by Vanessa Veytia, a California resident who bought the home located near Le Jeune Road and Southwest Eighth Street in August 2020 for $415,000.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 9:56 AM.
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