Ordinary people are not the only ones, of course, who have been struggling with foreclosure during the housing crisis and bad economy. Most recently in the news is the foreclosure action against O. J. Simpson, along with his ongoing bankruptcy. Simpson purchased his Miami home in 2000 for $575,000. Like most properties, it is no longer worth what he paid for it, instead losing at least $100,000 in value.

Simpson, 64, has been struggling, financially and otherwise, for the past 15 years. Although he was acquitted in the 1995 murders of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman, he was held financially responsible for their deaths in the amount of $33.5 million. When Simpson and a ghostwriter released a book about the murders, a judge in an earlier case ruled that Simpson should not be allowed to benefit from the proceeds and awarded the rights to the Goldman family in partial payment on the $33.5 million debt.

At one point, Simpson apparently paid down about $350,000 of a home equity line of credit on the Miami home. Because of his existing legal obligation to the Goldman family, however, the trustee in Simpson's bankruptcy case filed a clawback lawsuit to have that money returned and paid to higher-priority creditors like the Goldmans. When the bank returned the money, they increased Simpson's mortgage by the same amount, pushing Simpson further into foreclosure.

Currently, the former football star is serving a potential 30-year prison term for his 2007 kidnapping and armed robbery conviction. He continues a costly appeal of that sentence.

Although he in prison, Simpson's will continue to have some incoming cash. His NFL pension and a retirement account are exempt from collections in bankruptcy Apparently, that income is insufficient to meet Simpson's mortgage payments. He has, however, challenged the foreclosure action.

Source: CBSNEWS, "Bank foreclosing on O.J. Simpson's Florida house," Jan. 16, 2012