Gary Dourdan Sues Over Foreclosure of His Home

Tube star tries to stave off the recessionary blues by filing suit against the bank that wants to take his house away from him

If you ask Gary Dourdan, it's the one percent who are the biggest criminals these days.

The former CSI: Crime Scene Investigation star is suing California-based Union Bank, alleging constructive fraud and seeking an injunction against the foreclosure of his Los Angeles home after claiming bank representatives were slow in offering mortgage help, in violation of state law.

Consequently, his payment on a $900,000-plus residence jumped from $5,000 to $10,000 per month, resulting in Dourdan being unable to keep up with the payments and becoming another 99 percenter victimized by the Great Recession, which hit the housing market particularly hard.

Per the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the 45-year-old actor claims he suffered economic hardship that "caused him to be laid off in January 2010" and his requests for mortgage assistance from Union were initially ignored despite California regulations requiring lenders to offer loan modifications.

Dourdan's complaint notes the bank dragged its feet for six months before finally offering him a relief package on his $922,000 mortgage. By waiting so long, the thesp asserts the bank "manipulated and caused [him] to fall further behind" in his payments and failed to then honor the forbearance agreement, especially through "negligent obfuscation" when it sent confusing mortgage statements out saying "Do not remit any payments."

According to the suit, the whole thing was a  "predetermined scheme" aimed at "extracting as much money as they felt they could from them," which turned out to be about $60,000, before finally taking his home, all the while breaching its contract.

Dourdan wants a court order to prevent the foreclosure sale of his property and is demanding compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney's fees and costs.

—Reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum