Susan Johnson had all but given up hope on ever obtaining title to the home that she and her family moved into in 2002. Unable to purchase a home outright at the time, Johnson entered into a lease purchase agreement, under which she agreed to pay $400 per month for a period of approximately two years, for a total of $10,000. When, in 2004, payment was completed, she would own her home. At that point, however, Johnson discovered that an obstacle stood in the way of obtaining title. She learned that the party with whom she had entered into the lease purchase agreement was not the owner of record, although he did have an ownership interest at least in equity.
Johnson and her family tried for many years in vain to have the property transferred into her name. Although she knew she had paid for her home, Johnson feared that, one day, someone would show up and tell her that the property did not belong to her and that she and her family would be thrown out on the street. Finally, she contacted Philadelphia VIP for assistance, where I, a project lawyer in Pepper Hamilton’s health effects litigation department, volunteered to handle her case. Before approaching VIP, Johnson had been so anxious that she went so far as to lease another property at great personal expense for herself and her family to live in until the title situation was resolved.
