CHARLESTON -- A Dry Branch couple is suing JPMorgan Chase Bank after it claims the bank participated in unlawful debt collection and breached its fiduciary duty.
On Sept. 26, 2008, Dewey M. Bostic and Lindsay Bostic and the defendant entered into a purchase money loan secured by a home in an original maximum amount of $86,700, according to a complaint filed May 13 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
The Bostics claim Chase represented that it would pay the property taxes out of the escrow account, but in October 2010 they received a certified letter from the Kanawha County Sheriff indicating that the home would be sold for taxes on Nov. 15, 2010, if past due taxes were not paid.
Chase requested the Bostics to forward the notices from the Sheriff to the bank and that it would take care of the payments, according to the suit.
The Bostics claim on Dec. 29, 2010, they discovered their home had been sold for non-payment of taxes through the local newspaper. They claim when they spoke with Chase, they received no explanation.
On Feb. 14, the Bostics received a letter from the defendant informing them that it had paid the taxes, but when the Bostics called the sheriff on March 3, they were told the taxes had not been paid, according to the suit.
The Bostics claim the bank breached its fiduciary duty by failing to pay the taxes.
The defendant also misrepresented the amounts due from the Bostics in an effort to collect monies from them, according to the suit.
The Bostics are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. They are being represented by Daniel F. Hedges.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Louis H. Bloom.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 11-C-787
Dry Branch couple sues Chase for unlawful debt collection
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