{"id":230625,"date":"2026-04-14T02:42:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T02:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/230625\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T02:42:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T02:42:06","slug":"jesus-did-that-work-st-augustine-veteran-wins-fight-to-keep-home-after-roofing-company-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/230625\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Jesus did that work’: St. Augustine veteran wins fight to keep home after roofing company dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

An 82\u2011year\u2011old veteran has won the right to keep his home with help from a local attorney after a Jacksonville roofing company dropped a lawsuit against him.<\/p>\n

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 An 82\u2011year\u2011old Vietnam veteran no longer faces foreclosure on his home after a lawsuit against him by a Jacksonville roofing company was dismissed this year.<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Neely, a Purple Heart recipient, said he was facing foreclosure<\/a> after a contractor came to his home promising a new roof through his insurance at no cost. The work was completed, he said, but he later received a notice of foreclosure tied to an outstanding balance the company claimed he owed.<\/p>\n

Neely\u2019s case drew attention after a neighbor reached out to First Coast News\u00a0in December. Neely has been overwhelmed with support since then.<\/p>\n

A local attorney took his case pro bono.<\/p>\n

Attorney Donato Rinaldi, who represented Neely, said he told the judge in the case that Neely was not the only homeowner facing similar issues with the company, Florida Roof Specialists.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 26, the roofer’s attorney dismissed the lawsuit and a satisfaction of lien was later filed in county records, clearing the debt tied to Neely\u2019s property.<\/p>\n

“I figured Jesus did that work,” Neely said. “He sent me an angel.”<\/p>\n

State records show Florida Roof Specialists was sued by the Florida attorney general\u2019s office in December, 2025 for allegedly misleading homeowners into believing they would only owe their insurance deductible, then later demanding additional money and filing liens on properties when homeowners refused to pay.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s lawsuit says at least 192 consumers have filed complaints against the company since 2020.<\/p>\n

Two Jacksonville veterans interviewed by First Coast News in 2024 described similar experiences with the company.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Ask Anthony | Lien removed from Jacksonville veteran’s home after price dispute<\/a><\/p>\n

Rinaldi said Neely\u2019s case should serve as a reminder for homeowners to read documents carefully before signing any contract with a contractor. He urged people to ask questions, take paperwork home to review, watch for false urgency or fake deadlines and to treat a push for an on\u2011the\u2011spot signature as a red flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t sign anything unless you understand it,\u201d Rinaldi said. \u201cAsk questions. Take the paperwork home. If a contractor says you have to sign right now, that\u2019s a red flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said consumers who think they\u2019ve been taken advantage of should still reach out to an attorney, even if they are worried about cost.<\/p>\n

“For anybody out there who thinks they’ve been scammed and think they can’t afford attorney, they have no one to talk to, call an attorney anyway,” Rinaldi added. “Because you never know. A lot of these things fall under the auspices of consumer protection. There are statutes in there that that allow you to recover your attorney’s fees if you prevail, so you should be able to afford that attorney.”<\/p>\n

The State Attorney\u2019s Office said the related litigation against the roofing company is ongoing. We also reached out to Florida Roof Specialists and their attorney, who said they could not comment on ongoing litigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 82\u2011year\u2011old veteran has won the right to keep his home with help from a local attorney after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-230625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}