Mr. Davet continued to try, unsuccessfully, to get the federal court to agree that the state judgment was invalid. Then, a possible lifeline arrived this past October, when a federal judge in Cleveland, Christopher A. Boyko, dismissed 14 foreclosure suits because the plaintiffs that brought them couldn't prove they owned the mortgages when the suits were filed.

Such a problem can occur when mortgages are turned into securities and sold to investors. The companies involved in the transaction may not always have checked that each mortgage was legally transferred, or "assigned," to the new owners. In essence, the originating lender continued to legally own the mortgage -- and would thus need to be the plaintiff in a foreclosure suit. In Mr. Davet's case, however, the mortgage, which was not securitized, changed hands multiple times and wasn't actually owned by NationsBanc until three years after the company filed suit.

Other judges have since followed Judge Boyko's lead. The Ohio attorney general has asked numerous judges to dismiss or delay foreclosures based on similar grounds.

Earlier this month, Mr. Davet filed a second federal appeal, this time citing the Boyko ruling, which he believes he inspired. It's unclear whether the latest salvo will work. If it doesn't, Mr. Davet says, he will set his sights on the U.S. Supreme Court.

All the litigation makes the home's new owner, Paul Mikhli, a dentist, "a little nervous." Should Mr. Davet succeed, he adds, title insurance should cover his expenses.

After spending much of the year living at the homes of friends and family, including their daughter, a university student in Indiana, the Davets recently moved into a small, $900-a-month home in a rural community east of Cleveland. "The money is short," Mr. Davet said on a recent afternoon, adding that one of his siblings, a pawn-shop owner , has been helping financially.

But hope prevails. From time to time, he drives back to Beachwood, just to see how his old home is doing.