Foreclosure suit hits Logue

Dan Logue vows to fight "to the ends of the earth" what he calls a frivolous lawsuit filed Wednesday against him and several others by a couple who say they face foreclosure after buying their first home.

Logue, chairman of the Yuba County Board of Supervisors, a real estate broker and the Republican candidate for Assembly, said the couple is suing everyone within 100 miles.

"It's not just us," he said. "It's everybody and their fricking dog."

"There's nothing to it," Logue said. "This is why doing business in California is so expensive. People sue everybody anytime they feel like it."

Lewis and Christina Heflen bought the property along Spring Valley Road in 2004 for $324,900 and learned late last year during an attempted refinancing that the house was classified as a mobile home. It was worth less than $190,000 and could not be refinanced, according to the suit filed in Yuba County Superior Court.

The Heflens and their attorney could not be reached Thursday for comment.

Logue, 57, who has a realty business that bears his name in Linda, was the listing broker for the property, the suit said. His listing represented to the couple that the structure was a "beautiful home," built in 1994, the suit states.

However, the couple claim in the suit that the home was built prior to 1994.

Logue said the couple signed documents that described the structure as a mobile home. He said he represented the seller of the property in the transaction.

The Helfens' lawsuit also names others, including their real estate agent in Lincoln and the appraiser who the couple said appraised the property's value in 2004 at $345,000.

The suit asserts that Logue and others did not determine that the home had been built before 1994 and that no permits were obtained for work done on the property. If the listing had been accurate, the couple said they would not have made an offer on the home, the suit states.

"Plaintiffs paid $325,000 for property worth $190,000, have a mortgage they cannot pay, have damaged credit, have wasted money on improvements, face foreclosure or a short sale, and have suffered damages as well as stress and anxiety," the suit states.

The couple said they told their Lincoln real estate agent not to show them mobile homes because of financing problems with such structures.

The house on the Yuba County property they bought was said to be a mobile home rebuilt from the foundation — and that paperwork from the state confirmed the home's conversion to a standard construction house, according to the lawsuit.

Contact Appeal reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appeal-democrat.com