Germania owners owe Stir $1 million after eviction for building restoration

Milwaukee Business Journal — March 8, 2020 — A recent court ruling said Milwaukee advertising firm Stir LLC is owed $1.16 million after being kicked out of the historic Germania building for its redevelopment into housing.

Stir’s attorney said the company was in court nearly five years to secure that money judgment and intends to collect, even if it means foreclosing on the property.

“We’re going to get our money out of this,” said Stir’s attorney Kevin Demet. “If we’re not paid, we’re taking over the building.”

Battle of Wills: Family clashes over $3 million Derzon estate

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — July 14, 2012 — The familiar sign on S. 108th St. still has the Derzon name on it. A picture of the company's founder, David Derzon, hangs on the wall above the eclectic collection of rare coins and valuables on display in the store.

But no Derzon is involved in the venerable collectibles business any longer. In the eight months between David Derzon's death in 2007 and that of his second wife, Rebecca Derzon, she rewrote her will - cutting David's two sons out of the business and the family fortune…

A Fight Over the Fine Print

Chevy Chase Bank Faces Suit Over Adjustable-Rate Mortgages

Washington Post — February 6, 2007 — With college costs looming for their four children, Bryan and Susan Andrews were looking for a way to cut their monthly expenses.

The sales pitch that came in the mail seemed perfect: A mortgage at 1.95 percent, fixed for five years.

"It sounded like a really good program," Susan Andrews recalled recently.

But after the deal closed, in 2004, the couple realized to their horror that the $191,000 loan they got from Bethesda-based Chevy Chase Bank was an adjustable-rate mortgage. The rate has climbed to 8.3 percent and, because of the way the mortgage is structured, the couple now owe more than they did when they signed for the loan.

Court tells Bethesda bank to rescind option ARMs

Bloomberg News — January 19, 2007 — NEW YORK // A federal judge in Wisconsin ordered Chevy Chase Bank to rescind loans made to some borrowers who took out so-called option adjustable-rate mortgages, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. 

The ruling was in a case against the Maryland-based bank brought by Susan and Bryan Andrews, who took out an option ARM in the belief that a 1.95 percent introductory rate was fixed for five years. Two months later, they received a statement showing the rate had risen to 4.375 percent, the newspaper said…

Bank loses lawsuit

Loan terms fooled Cedarburg couple

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — January 16, 2007 — A federal judge in Milwaukee ruled Tuesday that a Cedarburg couple can rescind their adjustable-rate mortgage with Chevy Chase Bank because the bank failed to clearly explain how the loans would work.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman also certified the case as a class-action lawsuit, creating the possibility that others with similar "option ARM" loans from the Bethesda, Md.-based bank can get out of their mortgages.

People who took out the loans will be able to get back closing costs and the payments they made to the bank, said Milwaukee attorney Kevin J. Demet, who represented homeowners Susan and Bryan Andrews of Cedarburg in the case.

"The significance of the ruling, of course, is that all of their documents became invalid because they didn't make the proper disclosures," Demet said…

A Trendy Mortgage Falls From Favor

Demand for Option ARMs, Which Helped Fuel Boom, Wanes Amid Rising Rates, Growing Risk

The Wall Street Journal — November 29, 2005 — The cheap mortgage that helped pump up the housing boom is finally in retreat.

Demand for so-called option adjustable-rate mortgages has dropped 25% in recent months, according to estimates by UBS AG. Just this summer, these loans accounted for more than 30% of jumbo mortgages, UBS says. Option ARMs carry teaser rates of as low as 1% and give borrowers multiple payment choices, but can lead to a rising loan balance…

Journal Communications settles ex-employees' suit

Milwaukee Business Journal — May 8, 2002 — Journal Communications Inc. and a group of employees forced to take early retirement at the time of the Milwaukee Journal-Milwaukee Sentinel merger announced they had reached an $8.9 million settlement in the ex-employees' lawsuit against the Milwaukee-based communications company…

Sex offender's lake property turned over to victims

But judge declines to mediate dispute among interested buyers of estate

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — September 3, 1999 — A judge Thursday turned over ownership of $1.6 million worth of Oconomowoc Lake property owned by a convicted sex offender and Schlitz brewing heir to the man's sex assault victims.

However, Circuit Judge Patrick Snyder refused to mediate a dispute about interested buyers, leaving that legal tangle in the lap of fellow Judge James Kieffer, who was assigned to a related lawsuit filed this week.

Snyder ordered Schiltz heir W. David Tallmadge's two properties, a lakefront parcel worth more than $1 million and a commercial frontage lot worth about $500,000, be given to a woman and a girl he was convicted of assaulting in California…