Leo Gillick
There are few things lower than robbing a widowed blind man of his home, but one Georgia man claims that’s exactly what his stepson did.
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Stolen Home: According to Robert Elder, an 86-year-old blind widower, he has had his house taken from underneath him, according to Atlanta First News. Furthermore, it was stripped of anything valuable. He claims that his former stepson, along with others, including a lawyer, forged multiple documents to rob him of his home.
Elder took the situation to court after finding three separate deeds signed with a forged signature giving his home away. He said that, because he was blind, there was absolutely no way he could have signed the deeds to his home. As he pointed out, due to his eyesight, signing on a straight line was out of the question.
Elder took the buyer, the mortgage company, and his stepson to court for the theft of his home in a civil lawsuit.
Bitter Victory
In the end, the blind grandfather was compensated for his home. Elder and his stepson came to an agreement of “fraud, larceny, and malicious injury.” He was ordered to pay Elder a total of $136,000. This was to cover damage to his stripped home. It also went some way to making up for the stress.
Payout: However, the civil case against the buyer and the mortgage company was dropped. But, as compensation, they were ordered to give Elder a one-time payment for the total sum of the house. It may seem like a victory for the blind old widower. But the loss of his home is more than just monetary.
He says the ruined relationship and destruction of trust are something that no amount of money can heal. Despite having money for his home, he has lost a relationship with his stepson as a result. As he has said, he would like an apology. It would act as the first step in repairing a broken relationship.
- “Some form of apologizing for doing that to me would be a way toward healing,” he said after the case was closed. The loss of family and faith will take a lot longer to heal.
