Mortgage Fraud Victims, Insurance Company Await State Appeals Court Ruling From "Imposter Foster" Civil Court Case...The Ghosts Of 1564 Hillside Ave. N. Still Walk The Earth!

Creative stock photo, blog post by John Hoff

Click here for the appellant's reply brief. 

Click here for AIG's brief, and the first page is unreadable, sorry, but keep scrolling down for the rest of a very long document. 

This blog has followed developments in this convoluted case for more than half a decade. John Foster and his wife Melony Michaels were the victims of a mortgage fraud at 1564 Hillside Avenue North. John Foster's identity and perfect credit was stolen by a crackhead named Jerome KingRussell, as part of a fraud cooked up by Larry Maxwell and others. 

Maxwell went to prison over the fraud. The victims sued in civil court and won a judgment of $849,000 but the money has proven hard to collect because the insurance company doesn't want to pay. (Well, I guess that's understandable) The house was demolished a long time ago. Here's a link to a blog article about the lawsuit which has yet more links and traces a lot of the story to date. 

Now both sides have filed briefs in Minnesota's State Court of Appeals, made their arguments, and wait. The question is not whether the $849,000 judgment is valid. 

The question is whether the plaintiffs can collect from the defendant's insurance company...

Minnesota State Court Of Appeals Upholds $861,000 Judgment Stemming From Larry Maxwell Mortgage Fraud Case...

Contributed photo, 1564 Hillside Ave. N., one of the
addresses involved in the fraud, blog post by John Hoff

Click here to read the opinion by the Minnesota State Court of Appeals.

On March 17, a day inextricably associated with the color green, the Minnesota State Court of Appeals ruled plaintiff John Foster and his wife Melony Michaels were entitled to a judgment of $861,000 (more or less) stemming from the illegal use of John Foster's identity to facilitate a mortgage fraud...

Early Release Revoked For Jerome Lance Kingrussell, The "Imposter Foster" From Mortgage Fraud At 1564 Hillside Ave. N.

Minnesota DOC mugshots, therefore public domain, blog post
by John Hoff

Word comes from Melony Michaels, one of the victims of the mortgage fraud involving 1564 Hillside Ave. N., of a resolution to a story this blog reported October 17.

Jerome Lance Kingrussell, who was the "imposter John Foster" during the infamous and high profile mortgage fraud has had early release revoked and is now headed back to prison. A hearing was held yesterday which, ironically, the mortgage fraud victims were not allowed to attend. But the result of the hearing is Kingrussell is no longer a free man and has apparently AT LONG LAST used up his undeserved chances to avoid a prison sentence.

Right. I wouldn't bet the farm against the possibility of the prison system turning loose this "little fish" yet again. 

Mortgage Fraudster Larry "Maximum" Maxwell Moved To Steele County Jail Due To Prison Overcrowding...

Photo, blog post by John Hoff

Larry "Maximum" Maxwell, who was sent to prison for 18 counts related to a Northside mortgage fraud (click here for a somewhat comprehensive list of articles from this blog) was recently moved to the Steele County Jail due to prison overcrowding.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections Victim Assistance Program has "assured" Larry Maxwell's victims that he will not be released until April 22, 2020, but this odd and sudden shuffling of prisoners has left Maxwell's victims feeling less than secure in such assurances.

The Steele County Jail is in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is a lovely town with a number of well-preserved historical buildings, none of which Larry Maxwell will see unless there is some kind of view from the jail. 

Minnesota Court Of Appeals Rules First USA Title Must Post Bond For "Too Little, Too Late" Appeal In Mortgage Fraud, Identity Theft Judgment...

Contributed photo, 1564 Hillside Ave. N. at the time it
was sold for a small fortune by slumlord Keith Rietman,
blog post by John Hoff

JNS blog has been following the "progress" (if that's the word) of a post-eleventh hour, beyond-the-last ditch appeal of a massive judgment against First USA Title, et al.

Click here for previous blog coverage.

First USA Title didn't bother to show up in district court and fight a lawsuit regarding its negligence in a massive mortgage fraud/identity theft scheme which wiped out the credit of John Foster. A house at 1564 Hillside Ave. N. was involved in the scheme. Larry "Maximum" Maxwell went to prison as a result of the fraud. 

The civil suit which came out of the Maxwell case resulted in a judgment of more than $800,000. It is expected the judgment will be quite difficult to collect, and that has certainly been the case so far...

Jerome KingRussell, The Notorious "Imposter Foster" Of Larry Maxwell Mortgage Fraud Fame, Soon Will Taste Freedom! Native American Casinos Are Advised To Be On The Lookout For This Man (Pictured Below) And Not Take Any Checks From Him, Especially If Those Checks Are Written On The Account Of JOHN FOSTER...

Department of Corrections Mug Shot Photo, therefore public
domain, blog post by John Hoff

Jerome KingRussell, the druggie POS no-account who impersonated the identity of mild-mannered delivery truck driver John Foster to pull off a massive mortgage fraud scheme, has been cooling his heels in prison for a while due to his chronic inability to abide by the terms of his plea agreement, as revealed exclusively here on Johnny Northside.

Now word comes that KingRussell, who has used up more second, third and tenth chances than Charlie Sheen, will be getting yet another second chance. Word trickles down to this blogger that KingRussell will soon be released from "Phase 2" of the MCF Willow River boot camp. It is suspected that KingRussell may have been imprisoned upon a "come and go" basis. He has done only about a year of the 4 and 1/2 year sentence hanging over him.

Meanwhile, as revealed in a recent article, the victims of KingRussell's fraud are still fighting to collect something, anything, on the $800 civil judgment. They have yet to see a dime, so far. And trying to garnish wages on Mr. KingRussell promises to be quite an affair, by which I mean more of a turnip juice affair than a bloody affair, if you catch my meaning. 

Word Of A "Too Little, Too Late" Appeal Attempt Over Massive Identity Theft Judgment...

Contributed photo, 1564 Hillside Ave. N., blog post by John Hoff

John Foster and his wife Melony Michaels, who won a massive civil judgment following the theft of Foster's identity as part of a mortgage fraud scheme, are now facing what appears to be a "too little, too late" eleventh hour attempt to appeal from the judgment.

The judgment is more than $800,000.

According to a document on the State Supreme Court website (which also covers the lower court of appeals) some sort of half-assed attempt was made to file an appeal...of course it's not entirely clear whether it's even a proper appeal. Click here to view the court's ruling and judge for yourself whether a proper appeal has even been filed. 

Funny that somebody wants to appeal at this point, when none of the defendants showed up at the actual trial.

On May 23, the online docket shows there was a Motion To Require Appellant To File A Cost Bond. That's about the last entry of note, though there's a lot of back-and-forth about filing a transcript.

If I had to guess, I'd say some insurance company caught wind of the fact there's a big judgment out there and their client is very, very responsible. And, oh my word...

JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY? That's lawyer-ese for "somebody is left holding the bag even if the other wrongdoers can't be found."

JNS blog will publish more details as these become available.