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But one Cleveland-area man hit the law books and fought off a foreclosure lawsuit for 11 years, without making a mortgage payment, before getting evicted earlier this year. It's believed to be the longest residential foreclosure case of its kind in Cuyahoga County.

Here's Law Blog colleague Amir Efrati's page-one article on Richard Davet in the WSJ.

Davet turned his foreclosure case into a full-time job, starting with trips to the library at Case Western Law. He flooded the court with motions, objections and affidavits, and he appealed the judge's rulings at every chance, which bought him extra years in his home.

The mortgage company that filed the suit, then NationsBanc Mortgage Corp., had so much trouble with the case that four years into it they brought in lawyers from Jones Day. (Law Blog readers: Have any of you at other big firms handled a single-family-home foreclosure case?)

Here's the latest twist: An argument Mr. Davet made when the case was filed -- that NationsBanc couldn't bring the suit because it didn't legally own his mortgage -- is the same red-hot legal theory now being embraced by judges and regulators in Ohio and elsewhere to help give homeowners a chance against foreclosure.

Relying on these recent rulings, Davet has made a plea to the Sixth Circuit.

Law Blog readers, check out the story, and tell us your take. Is this all about a legal system at work, or not working?