A Utah woman, who was threatened with losing her house forever because of an unpaid dental bill, has won a reprieve at the Utah Court of Appeal.
The woman, who is called Capri Ramos, was threatened with losing her house after she failed to pay a 68 dollar dental bill back in 1995; the debt snowballed to $958 with unpaid interest and Ms Ramos was subsequently sued by a debt collection agency; she was ordered to sell her house to pay for the bill. The house was sold a year later for a sum of just 1,500 dollars.
Capri Ramos has contested the actions of the collection agency, North American Recovery, claiming that she wasn’t given proper notice of the sale of her house and that the sale price was significantly under the market value; the house had been bought one year earlier for $51,000 by Capri Ramos.
The case has now been running for over ten years and Ms Ramos has been greatly affected by the turmoil it has caused. The incident has also spurned fervent debate right across America, with many citizens lamenting the current health system and the greed of corporate chiefs that fail to understand the plight of poorer citizens.
Last week, the Court of Appeals upheld Ms Ramos’ protests; the case has now been referred to the 3rd District Court where Ms Ramos will seek to void the sale of her home.
