A Chancery Court lawsuit is seeking millions in damages against the Hamilton County Herald, saying its limited publication allows the sale of foreclosed properties without the owner being notified.
James L. Coulter filed the Chancery Court complaint and asked that it be made into a class action.
The suit is also brought against Wilson & Associates attorneys, Foreclosure Placement Services, Robert M. Wilson Jr., William F. Rector Jr., Cade L. Cox and Don Bona. All the firms and individuals are from Arkansas.
Mr. Coulter said he was formerly married to Linda G. Coulter and they lived at 1826 Morris Hill Road. He said two other houses are on the property, and the entire homeplace was worth about $180,000. He said he was divorced in 2001 and moved to Catoosa County, Ga.
The suit says the Coulters in 2001 had taken out a $74,500 loan on the property.
The suit says the loan went into arrears without the knowledge of Mr. Coulter and the mortgate was turned over to Wilson & Associates. It says a letter about a foreclosure was sent to the Morris Hill Road address, but was returned unaccepted.
The suit says the property was sold at a foreclosure sale on Sept. 15, 2003, and bought in for the amount of the loan - $78,600.
Mr. Coulter said he learned about the foreclosure sale when a relative called and said the people who had bought the property were there putting up surveyor markers.
He said he had an excellent credit rating, but his credit was damaged because of the foreclosure.
Mr. Coulter said he learned that Wilson & Associates had billed $260 as a placement fee for Foreclosure Placement Services. He said the attorneys could have placed the ad themselves without having to incur that fee.
The suit says Wilson & Associates on Nov. 1, 2002, ceased placing foreclosure ads in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and started using the Herald. It says three-fourths of the ads in the Herald are placed by Wilson & Associates.
The complaint says just 362 copies of the Herald are printed each week.
The suit says, "Clearly, the Herald cannot be regarded as a newspaper for the purpose of complying with statutory publication requirements and thereby notifying the community that certain property is to be sold at a trustee's sale."
It says by no longer using the daily newspaper the defendants "did and continue to intentionally, recklessly, or negligently disregard the near-elimination of the possibility that the Coulters and other property owners would receive publication notice of foreclosure sales."
The suit, filed by the firm of Wooden, Fulton and Scarborough, asks $4 million compensatory damages and $9 million punitive damages for Mr. Coulter and for others in the class.