After a bank issued an eviction notice for a home in Northwest Atlanta, sheriff's deputies and movers went to the residence to remove the people who lived there. But when they found Vinia Hall, 103, and her daughter, Vita Lee, 83, the movers and deputies decided not to follow through with it.
According to WSBTV, the women had been engaged in a long legal battle with Deutsche Bank, the financial giant accused of widespread mortgage fraud by the U.S. government earlier this year and is the focus of a $1 billion lawsuit filed by the Justice Department. In November, Deutsche Bank paid $165 million to settle a suit claiming that it had misled credit unions about the risk of securities tied to mortgages.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ali Muhammad, Hall's grandson, took out a second mortgage on the house from Deutsche Bank National Trust. Although Hall lived in the residence for 53 years, Muhammad was listed as the owner. In 2009, Deutsche foreclosed on the property, according to the paper. (The loan is now controlled by Chase Bank.)
The Journal-Constitution reported that Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta, Derrick Boazman, a former city council member, and Vincent Ford, a state senator, all intervened to keep Hall in her longtime home.
“[Chase] should write this off at a loss,” Boazman said.
"I saw the sheriffs, who came to put them out, take off and leave. I gave all glory to God," community activist Michael Langford said.
"Please don't come in and disturb me no more," Hall said. "When I'm gone you all can come back and do whatever they want to," Hall said.
Hall is set to turn 104 in three weeks.