When Marine Jacob McGreevey returned home to Vancouver after four years in Afghanistan and Iraq war zones, the fight wasn’t over. No, McGreevey launched into more combat, this time against the company he claimed illegally foreclosed on his house.

This month, the Marine won. But he did so only after a powerful ally -- the U.S. Department of Justice -- joined the fight on his side.

New Jersey based PHH Mortgage last week agreed to pay $125,000 each to McGreevey and five other servicemembers it foreclosed on. The firm did so after the U.S. Department of Justice sued it for violating federal law when it grabbed the servicemembers’ homes.

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protects members of the U.S. military from foreclosures and other collection efforts while on active duty and in the ensuing 12 months. Federal attorneys claimed PHH knew or should have known the homeowners were servicemembers and therefore protected by the law but seized their homes anyway.

“This is great news,” McGreevey said of the settlement. The $125,000 fully covers the losses he suffered in the foreclosure, he said.

But he remains frustrated with PHH. “They could have made this is a positive PR situation,” he said. “Let’s show how much we care about our veterans and let’s fix this. But they didn’t. They fought it for years. That shows their core values.”

PHH did not admit or deny responsibility. “PHH decided to settle this matter because it was in the best interest of these service members and allows the company to move forward and avoid protracted litigation.” the mortgage company said in a statement.

PHH Mortgage foreclosed on McGreevey’s Vancouver house in 2010, when he was on his third tour of duty. After McGreevey returned to civilian life, he got a job at a bank and learned of the federal law that should have prevented his foreclosure.

McGreevey hired Portland lawyer Sean Riddell, his former commanding officer in the Middle East, to represent him. They filed lawsuits against PHH and the Seattle-area foreclosure firm PHH hired to handle the foreclosure.

They lost because McGreevey had waited too long to file his complaint. The judge at the circuit court level ruled the statute of limitations had expired, and he was backed up by a panel of appeals court judges.

Riddell did not give up. He sent McGreevey’s lawsuit and background information to every law enforcement agency and consumer protection group he thought might be interested. Lawyers from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice took up the case.

The found five illegal foreclosures against servicemembers in PHH’s portfolio. They also found about two-dozen improper foreclosures conducted by Northwest Trustee, the other defendant in McGreevey’s original lawsuit.

“You can survive adverse situations in your life and overcome them,” McGreevey said. “We lost at the civil level, but because of our tenacity we hung in there. Sean is the embodiment of tenacity. And eventually we won.”