An 88-year-old Brooklyn homeowner who says he is a victim of deed theft will have to wait until a little longer to find out whether the eviction case against him will be dismissed or proceed to trial.
On Friday, a Brooklyn Housing Court judge gave lawyers for Ray Cortez and the company that bought Cortez’s three-story townhouse near the Barclays Center until March 24 to submit their arguments in writing.
Ray Cortez Jr. said he and his father were relieved that they were given more time to persuade the judge to dismiss the eviction.
“We're still on pins and needles and not really knowing how this is going to end,” he told Gothamist Friday afternoon.
The judge will issue a ruling sometime after, but did not give specifics, according to Justin Jose Lim of the Legal Aid Society, which is representing Cortez in the eviction case.
Lawyers for the Long Island-based limited liability company that bought the property did not return a request for comment.
Cortez, who purchased the townhouse on the tree-lined street between Park Slope and Boerum Hill shortly after emigrating from Peru, has been living with the threat of eviction since 2015, when he says he first learned that he was no longer the property owner.
He and his first wife paid about $20,000 for the townhouse in 1969. It’s now worth upwards of $2 million.
According to Cortez and his lawyers, the former taxi driver who now suffers from dementia was duped into giving up ownership of his home by a man he met through a church friend.
Cortez’s son and attorneys argue that Wilson Calle took out mortgages against the property without Cortez’s knowledge, and that Cortez unknowingly signed over the deed.
Calle introduced Cortez to a Queens-based lawyer who drew up paperwork returning the deed ownership to Cortez, which was never filed, according to court records.
Both Calle and the Queens attorney, who has since been disbarred, served prison time for separate issues involving tax fraud and stealing money from clients.
