CHICAGO -- A mortgage lender that filed a lawsuit to force the Cook County Sheriff to evict a suburban Chicago woman from her home has withdrawn the lawsuit.
In a brief statement today, Accredited Home Lenders says it's also suspending its eviction action against Shirley McFarland of Dolton from her foreclosed bungalow.
The San Diego-based company gave no explanation about why it was withdrawing the lawsuit a day after it was filed.
A spokesman for the company declined to comment.
Earlier this week, Sheriff Tom Dart said he'd stop sending his deputies on court-ordered mortgage foreclosure evictions.
He said it was because many of those forced from their homes were renters who had faithfully paid their rent and in some cases had no idea of the financial problems of their landlords.
In announcing the lawsuit Thursday, the lender said Dart didn't have the power to refuse the eviction orders.
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"Sheriff Dart may have concerns about the orders that he is charged with enforcing, but he simply cannot refuse to carry them out. The orders of the court must be enforced," attorneys for Accredited Home said in a statement. "This lawsuit is necessary to ensure that."
Dart met with Cook County Judge Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird, head of the Chancery Division, to discuss his stance on foreclosure evictions, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
At that meeting, Dart told Kinnaird that too often his deputies are evicting renters who have not been given notice the property is in foreclosure. The sheriff suggested Kinnaird require banks to file an affidavit saying the homeowner and potential renters all have been given notice of the pending eviction before calling on deputies to evict residents.
