An 82-year-old woman who is fighting to keep her Northeast Portland house -- after she says a real-estate agent fooled her into signing papers to sell it -- has won a small victory.

This week, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Adrienne Nelson shot down the request of the real estate company RE/MAX Equity group, its agents and the aspiring homebuyer to get the elderly woman's lawsuit dismissed. Homeowner Josephine Gantt's lawsuit is asking a jury to determine that she isn't legally obligated to sell her home.

The judge also declined to order Gantt and the defendants to hash out the case before an arbitrator but left open the possibility. The judge said a jury trial should be held to determine whether the ultimate question in the case -- whether Gantt gets to keep her house -- should be tried before a panel of arbitrators or before a 12-person jury of Gantt's peers. Gantt's lawyers favor the latter.

Gantt has lived in the 1922 bungalow for the past 47 years -- as her Alberta Arts District neighborhood has transformed from humble to one of the hippest and hottest real estate markets in the city.

Gantt's lawsuit contends she had asked RE/MAX agent Erin Renwick in fall 2014 to tell her the value of her home because she was curious, but she had no immediate intention to sell. The suit says Renwick befriended Gantt over the months by bringing her pie, flowers and spending time talking to her.

The suit contends Renwick relentlessly pressured Gantt into listing her 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow. The suit states that in September 2015, Gantt -- whose eyesight is failing -- signed papers she thought gave Renwick permission to list her house for sale because that's what Renwick told Gantt the papers said. But in actuality, the papers were an agreement to sell her home to an out-of-state buyer, the suit says.

In court papers filed in March, RE/MAX asked the judge to dismiss Gantt's lawsuit -- or if the judge allowed it to proceed, to only let the case be aired before an arbitrator. In those court papers, RE/MAX contends that Gantt wasn't tricked, rather she wanted to sell her home and even thanked buyer Scott Wirkus after he came to her house for a home inspection.

Agents Erin Renwick and Rod Renwick -- who was brought in partway through the transaction -- joined RE/MAX in its arguments in those court papers.

RE/MAX and the agents contend that the buyer offered Gantt a top-of-the-market price -- $420,000 -- to which he later agreed to raise to $430,000 upon Gantt's demand. The problem, they say, began when Gantt revealed her "surprising revelation" that she wasn't satisfied with the buyer's offer, rather she wanted to solicit "multiple offers," according to the court papers.

During a May hearing, Nelson, the judge, listened to attorneys from both sides argue whether the case should be dismissed or go to arbitration.

Among his arguments, RE/MAX's attorney, Michael G. Jacobs, told the judge that poor eyesight alone wasn't enough to nullify a clause in the home sales agreement that called for disputes to be worked out before an arbitrator.

"That in itself isn't active concealment of the agreement itself," Jacobs said.

But one of Gantt's attorney, Stephen Walters, said the agreement shouldn't stand because his client simply couldn't make out the words.

"These documents might as well have been in Spanish or German or Russian, because she couldn't read them," Walters said.

On Tuesday, Nelson issued a written ruling saying the question of whether the case should be sent to arbitration is best decided before a jury. Nelson also noted that there is "a wealth of contested facts" left to be resolved.

No trial date has been set.

Although the home sale was supposed to close in October 2015, the sale was put on hold after Gantt sought legal help from a firm that offers free legal services to low income people.

In addition to getting to keep her house, the suit seeks $150,000 in damages -- alleging elder financial abuse, among other claims. Under Oregon law, that amount can be tripled to $450,000 if it's determined that Gantt is a "vulnerable person."

Read Gantt's lawsuit here.

Read RE/MAX's defense.

Read this week's ruling from the judge.

-- Aimee Green

503-294-5119