We noted recently how the foreclosure fiasco was ready made for the media and politicians. Great video, great sounds bites, great pictures, great human drama, exactly what drives journalists. You should assume that every media outlet in the country is working on a story that features a foreclosure fiasco victim. In Louisiana, another great example has cropped up.

A state district judge has ruled that CitiMortgage, a unit of CitiBank, has "lost its right to collect from a Chalmette couple who defaulted after Hurricane Katrina because the company lost their mortgage--and must pay them $10,000 for years of harassing phone calls," reports the Associated Press.

At the trial, the bank had trouble documenting its relationship to the actual mortgage, according to the AP. It seems that CitiMortgage didn't own the mortgage, but rather was the service. The actual note may have been owned by Ginnie Mae. But no one from Ginnie Mae was called to speak to the issue.

What was more damaging perhaps was the revelations of Citi's debt collection techniques, which the judge called harassment. He even ordered the bank to pay $10,000 to the couple for years of mistreatment. (You would think Citi outsourced the collection.) This getting more media play than otherwise would've been warranted.

For more:
- here's the AP article
- here's the local view

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Citigroup sued for faulty foreclosures, MERS a big issue
Banks need damage control as media jumps on foreclosure mess
Foreclosure mess started with a small home in Maine