An amazing dynamic with this second mortgage loan was after God showed us to leave all the law suits with him in 2011, and not try to defend ourselves, and the result it was the first case against us that went to judgment (in the bank’s favor). But the grace of God was we only had to pay $35 dollars a week. (see Not in my own Strength chapter)
Our attorney, Jack Robinson had vowed to overturn all our judgments and set us on a path of restoration and recovery. Remarkably, this is what the Lord had spoke to me in the midst of our troubles in 2009-2011.
So Jack filed on our behalf a motion to open the judgment and dismiss it for a lack of standing (challenging the legal right to initiative a law suit as the loan was originally with another bank). This would have been the end of 2012 or sometime in 2013.
Well what happened is the superior court judge denied our motion to open the judgment, but then we appealed the decision. Part of the appeal process was a meditation process prior to the case being briefed and heard. This was held in front of a retired appellate court judge in a series of meetings.
In a meeting room adjacent to the judge’s office, he proceeded to ask each side what they were after. Jack instructed me to let him take the lead, but answer any questions the judge may have. The bank immediately offered to settle the debt for about 60% less than the face value. This was an immediately relief that things were headed in the right direction. The reason the bank was eager to settle instead of go to trial was because they knew the aggressive tactic they had taken to get their judgment (drop the mortgage, avoid waiting for a foreclosure process and sue us personally for the note) was vulnerable to attack.
So the judge turned to me and said to me “So Mr. Healey what do you think of their offer?” I responded that I was grateful for the reduction in the amount owed, but explained that we had no money to settle. Instead I explained I was an entrepreneur with my own business where we had changed our strategy, we currently in the red and needed time to recover. He said how long? I said two years and hopefully we could start paying it down. He swung back to the bank, and said, ok what do you think of that offer – your proposed settlement amount but Mr. Healey wouldn’t start paying it back until 2 years from now? They responded, we have to get in touch with our client. The judge asked, why isn’t the bank here today? Because they are in another state and could not be here.
The lawyers proceeded to contact the bank, but it took over half an hour before they could get hold of someone. Meanwhile, the judge was getting irritated that they were taking so long. The think I quickly learned, is you don’t want to upset a judge. He scolded the plaintiff’s attorney for taking so long and wasting his time. After all, the law requires the client to be present for mediation, but they were not. The bank’s response was no to my proposal (2 years) but they were willing to drop the settlement offer to like 90% of the judgment value. Which was great, but once again I explained I don’t have any money, let alone $40k, so again my response was 2 years before I could start to pay down the even more generous offer.
Once more, the plaintiff told the judge that they would have to confer with their client. The judge knew that would take too much of his time, so he told the lawyers in no uncertain terms what he now would require them to do. That was we would reconvene in a weeks time, and this time the bank had to be present – otherwise there would be big problems for the bank.
Jack and I prepared. We prayed together, asking for God’s help.
We came back into the judge’s offices that next week. The judge asked the plaintiff’s attorney’s – OK, where is the bank’s representative? They asked if they could have a private conversation with the judge. The judge asked us to leave.
When we were invited back in, the judge announced to Jack and I, “The bank has proposed an offer I think you will be interested in.” We were like, wow, this is unexpected. The plaintiff’s attorney proceeded to say. “The bank is willing to put this matter behind them. They’re offer is to settle the judgment for $1.” We were shocked. We were smiling. I was thanking God.
The judge quickly turned to me in a challenging voice – “Mr. Healey do you accept the offer?” I hesitated. I wanted to blurt out “yes”. But I was thinking about the tax consequences. So I said I want to accept this offer, but could I take some time to figure out the tax consequences? Jack flashed me a look. Like you fool. The judge boomed back at me something like that’s unacceptable, I need your answer right now! I was like – OK, I accept.
Jack was blown away. He said in all his years of practice, he had never seen such a thing. He said, the only explanation is this is a miracle of God! We had a wonderful celebratory lunch which of course I agreed to pay (I had enough for that lunch!) Jack was so impacted, that with the fear of God in his voice, he told me that he would wave his substantial success fee (which I couldn’t pay at the time anyway) because in his words “I didn’t do anything, this was all God”.
A few weeks later I shared the good news with my friend Pastor Rick on the way back from another Vision New England meeting at Grace Chapel (late 2013) I shared with him the miracle we had just experienced where a nearly half-million dollar mortgage debt was settled for a dollar! Rick was amazed and responded by saying – I want to give you that dollar!
