A Texas woman is suing her Jefferson Parish-based sister-in-law in attempt get back a beach home that was once under the care of her brother.
Loretta Bickestaff filed a lawsuit against Carolyn Bickerstaff, Jule R. Herbert Jr. on Aug. 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in belief that the second mortgage her sister-in-law took out on a beach home, once under the care of her brother, is a sham.
In July 1993, Loretta Bickerstaff bough a beach house in Gulf Shores, Alabama and in February 2010 signed a power of attorney giving management and control of her affairs to her brother, Richard Bickerstaff, who is Carolyn Bickerstaff’s husband. Loretta Bickerstaff revoked the power of attorney on or about Dec. 5, 2013, granting her nephew, Greg Bickerstaff, the management and control of her affairs.
Loretta Bickerstaff claims that Carolyn Bickerstaff enacted a scheme to deprive her of the beach house she bought in 1993. Carolyn Bickerstaff is the mortgagee on a second mortgage on May 23, 2014, which purported to secure a loan she allegedly made to her husband in the amount of $241,534, and lists the beach house as the security.
Loretta Bickerstaff claims the second mortgage was a sham, that there was no loan and no money that actually exchanged hands. Bickerstaff is also suing Jule R. Herbert, the alleged preparer of that second mortgage.
Loretta Bickerstaff is being represented by New Orleans-based attorneys Dara L. Baird and Lisa A. Montgomery.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:15-cv-03639-SSV-DEK