The legal saga continues for a former Cuban political prisoner facing eviction, but she was given some more time to figure it out.
Ana Lazara Rodríguez thought she would be leaving her home of 26 years on Tuesday, but Mayor Daniella Levine Cava stepped in yet again, giving her another extension.
“When we went to bed last night, it was almost near certainty that Ana would be thrown out on the street," said attorney David Winker.
After the third district courts of appeals denied her stay the day before, her lawyer Bruce Jacobs says they are hoping to use the extra time to file an emergency motion with the Florida supreme court.
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“I’m feeling really happy because I’m aware that my fight is not the only fight. I’m happy because every time Levine Cava has stopped the eviction," Lazara said.
Lazara admits she hasn’t paid her mortgage since 2009 because she says the bank refused her payments after she took out a loan to help her roommate who was dying of cancer.
Her attorney claims she was a victim of fraud, alleging that the 2009 foreclosure by Bank of America was illegal because it included a robo-signed mortgage assignment and a forged rubber-stamped endorsement.
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Bank of America says they have not been involved with the property since February of 2017 after it was sold to Bank of NY Mellon as a trustee for the mortgage holder in 2018.
According to property records, in 2019, the house was bought in foreclosure by a woman in California.
Lazara is now leaning on her faith.
"When you believe in me you are protected," she said.
Jacobs says the eviction didn’t happen on Tuesday, but they are taking things as they come.
"Right now everything is minute by minute, day by day, waiting for the sheriff to come or justice to come," Jacobs said.
It's unclear how long she’ll get stay in her home.
