In 2009, Warren and Maureen Nyerges bought a home in Golden Gate Estates, Naples, Florida for $165,000. They paid cash. No mortgage. No bank loan. The house was entirely theirs.

So imagine their surprise when Bank of America tried to foreclose on it in 2010.

A Foreclosure That Made No Sense

The Nyerges had never done business with Bank of America. They didn't owe the bank a single penny. Yet there it was: a foreclosure notice on a home they owned outright.

Warren made phone calls. He wrote certified letters to the bank president. The response? Radio silence.

Left with no choice, he hired attorney Todd Allen. Two months later, in December 2010, a judge dismissed the foreclosure and ordered Bank of America to pay $2,500 in legal fees to compensate the couple for the nightmare they'd been put through.

The Bank Still Wouldn't Pay

But here's where it gets interesting. The bank simply ignored the court order. For five months, the Nyerges and their attorney made calls and sent letters demanding payment. Bank of America acted like the judgment didn't exist.

So Allen went back to court and obtained a writ of execution—a legal document that gave them the right to seize Bank of America's assets to satisfy the debt.

In June 2011, Warren and Maureen Nyerges walked into a Bank of America branch on Davis Boulevard with some unusual companions: their lawyer, two sheriff's deputies, and workers from a moving company.

Turnabout Is Fair Play

The scene was remarkable. The couple and their team started pointing out items to seize: desks, computers, office furniture, filing cabinets. And most importantly, the cash drawers.

"We'd physically remove the furniture from the bank, if necessary," Allen explained matter-of-factly. The movers were ready to load everything into trucks.

Suddenly, Bank of America found a way to cut that check. The bank manager hastily produced payment for the full amount owed. Problem solved.

"Having two sheriff's deputies sitting across your desk and a lawyer standing up behind them demanding whatever assets are in the bank can be intimidating," Allen told reporters. "But so is having your home foreclosed on when it wasn't right."

He called it "sweet justice."

The Bigger Picture

The Nyerges case wasn't isolated. During the 2008-2012 foreclosure crisis, banks made numerous errors, sometimes foreclosing on homes where no mortgage existed or where payments were current. The difference? Most people couldn't afford to fight back.

Warren and Maureen Nyerges could. And when they won, they didn't just accept the bank's refusal to comply with a court order. They used the same legal system that nearly took their home to hold the bank accountable.

The story went viral, covered by NPR, ABC News, CBS News, and TIME. It resonated because it flipped the script: for once, the little guy actually won against a massive financial institution. And they did it using the bank's own playbook.

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