Incensed Judge Gives Couple $525K Mortgage Gift

Score one for the little guy. Two weeks ago, a judge in Long Island gave an East Patchogue couple an amazing gift: their home minus their $525,000 mortgage. Yes — they are mortgage-free after Suffolk County Judge Jeffrey Spinner dismissed their $525,000 mortgage citing a California bank for its “harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive” acts.

As a result, $291,000 in principal and $235,000 in interest and penalties were erased for Diane Yano-Horoski and her husband, Greg Horoski (pictured), who now owe nothing on their ranch house in East Patchogue.

The bank on the receiving end of Judge Spinner’s wrath is OneWest (owned by a private equity group that purchased the failed IndyMac bank). OneWest received $814.2 million in federal bailout money.

According to the NY Post, the couple bought the 3,400-square-foot home 15 years ago for less than $200,000. After a refinance with an adjustable rate mortgage that soared to 12.375%, the couple began to have problems making payments due to Hororski’s health problems. A foreclosure was approved last year and IndyMac sued the couple. While Yano and Haroski tried to work out a deal, Judge Spinner felt the bank did nothing to help meet in the middle and concluded the bank’s conduct was “inequitable, unconscionable, vexatious and opprobrious.”

OneWest is reportedly involved in another, similar case in Oakland, where it’s trying to foreclose on an 89-year-old woman, despite two court orders telling it to stop.

(Photo courtesy NY Post)