Minneapolis, MN – On Thursday, June 25, friends and supporters gathered at the home of Rosemary Williams to plan for action after getting devastating news. That morning, in a conference call, Judge Lloyd Zimmerman sided with finance giant GMAC and against Ms. Williams, who has been engaged in an epic battle to save her home. Attorneys for Ms. Williams tried to appeal the judge’s earlier ruling which had denied a trial in the foreclosure related eviction. Judge Zimmerman ruled that for an appeal to take place, Rosemary Williams would have to come up with a $49,000 ‘bond’ in two days.

According to a statement from William’s supporters, “$49,000 is clearly an impossible amount for anyone to come up with. We should not have to pay almost as much as the house is worth to get heard in the ‘halls of justice.’ Since we don’t have that kind of money, we will have to act.”

The MN Coalition for a People’s Bailout and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign have been in the forefront of the fight to save the Rosemary William’s home.

“Rosemary Williams is on the front lines of the fight against foreclosures and evictions,” states Linden Gawboy of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout. “If the sheriff attempts this eviction, he will by stopped crowds of people who refuse to leave and insist the home stays in the hands of the Williams family.”

Background

Rosemary Williams has been fighting banks, politicians and big business since early this year. She has been living on the same block for 55 years and has been struggling to save her house from the mortgage company, after being swindled into an ARM. After months of not even being able to find out who held her mortgage, she got an eviction notice in March. She has been fighting ever since.

On June 16, Ms. Williams’s lawyers and GMAC’s lawyers went to court, for the judge to hear motions about what could be presented at an expected June 22 trial. To the shock of the courtroom full of supporters, Judge Zimmerman denied all of Rosemary Williams’s motions and ruled out going on with the trial, which was planned for June 22. He did order GMAC to negotiate with Ms. Williams, but it is clear as of today that GMAC has not been negotiating in good faith.

Besides negotiating, Rosemary Williams’s team got ready to file an appeal, to say that our legal case to save her home was critical and it was interest of justice that the case of the neighbors and community be heard.

Several dozen neighbors and community members signed motions to intervene in the case, stating that Rosemary leaving her home would be a blight to the neighborhood (there are already five empty homes on her block, due to foreclosure). Kicking Ms. Williams out of her home would also be a blight to the culture and history of the neighborhood; Ms. Williams has been a pillar of the community all her life.

#MinneapolisMN #CapitalismAndEconomy #News #Foreclosures #MinnesotaCoalitionForAPeoplesBailout #PoorPeoplesEconomicHumanRightsCampaign #AfricanAmerican #HousingStruggles