Elderly Woman Regains Home in Settlement

An elderly Los Angeles woman who was allegedly defrauded out of her home by a group of mortgage lenders has regained ownership of the property.

Attorneys for Eleanor Dauterive, 72, said the retiree regained title to her home last week after settling a lawsuit she filed in January against Samuel Savage, an independent mortgage broker, Ronald D. Perlstein, Shelly Kingman and three real estate companies.

In the suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Dauterive claimed that Savage had fraudulently induced her to take out a $68,000 second mortgage on her home even though her only income was less than $800 a month from social security and a pension.

As part of the settlement, Savage relinquished his claim of title to the two-bedroom home on Budlong Avenue. Savage, who was a co-signer of the mortgage loan, could not be reached for comment.

“I was taken advantage of,” Dauterive said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I’m happy to have my house back.”

However, Dauterive said she was so unsettled by the experience that she’s become less trusting of other people and doesn’t know who to believe when it comes to financial advice. “I’ve learned not to sign anything,” she said.

Dauterive also settled with Perlstein, president of Ronco Capital Corp. Ronco is a Los Angeles-based loan company that provided the mortgage loan. Details of the settlement with Perlstein were not disclosed.

Perlstein, however, said he had been wrongly accused and suffered as a result of the publicity about the case. He said the loan to Dauterive was made “in good faith” and was set up by an independent mortgage broker, over whom he had no control.

“I’ve been totally exonerated,” Perlstein said. “Mrs. Dauterive has her property back. I’m the only victim here. I suffered a public humiliation.”