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Evicted woman loses court challenge

LeYoni Junos

A former civil servant has lost another court battle in her bid to challenge her eviction from her home.LeYoni Junos was made to leave her home in Middle Road, Warwick, in December 2011 by HSBC bank after she failed to meet mortgage payments.Ms Junos, 50, failed to meet the payments after losing her job as administrator of the African Diaspora Heritage Trail programme. She later won an unfair dismissal case against Government.She has been challenging the bank by taking action against foreclosure proceedings and possession proceedings since 2007 and there have been a series of cases before the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.In her latest action, filed earlier this year, Ms Junos claimed the bank had obtained the possession order unlawfully and it was unenforceable.However, in a ruling issued on June 29 and posted this week on the Supreme Court’s website, Chief Justice Ian Kawaley ruled against her.“In my judgment it is clear beyond serious argument that the plaintiff’s attempts to relitigate the issue of the validity of the possession order, an issue which was resolved against her by the Court of Appeal in the foreclosure proceedings, is an abuse of process,” he wrote.He said there were no special circumstances that would allow Ms Junos who represented herself in the proceedings against the bank to readvance her claim.He said that any remaining claims Ms Junos continues to assert against the bank in respect of her mortgage cannot be used to prevent the bank from enforcing its rights, including selling it, although she can pursue those in separate proceedings.Ms Junos said after she was evicted that she was staying with friends. She could not be reached for comment yesterday.