Kwaku Atta Poku, the Columbia resident who lost his home to foreclosure even though he never missed a mortgage payment, has had one setback after another in his quest for restitution. But this is a good week for him and his family: a U.S. District Court judge ruled that he's entitled to a trial.

See colleague Larry Carson's story here.

Atta Poku refinanced his mortgage in 2001 with the same lender who held his original $97,000 loan, Washington Mutual. But somehow, the money from the refinance transaction was not used to pay off the original mortgage. The title company that handled the transaction is defunct. So is WaMu. What exactly happened is a mystery.

Atta Poku's attorney has "repeatedly argued that Atta Poku never touched the refinancing check and was not at fault in any way," Carson reports. "Even the title company involved in the refinancing agreed that Atta Poku did nothing wrong in a court hearing on the case January 20, [the judge] said."

There's a lot of outrage about this situation, as you might imagine. One Sun reader commented, "If I were his judge I would award Mr. Atta Poku TWICE what he is suing for in punitive damages."

Here's the original Sun story about the foreclosure that took most everyone by surprise.