In December 2014, Philip Williams went to Florida for a procedure, but developed infections that forced further surgery and heart complications, leaving him hospitalized until doctors deemed him medically able to return home in August, according to The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, officials in the town of Hempstead deemed Williams' modest two-story home unfit for habitation and knocked it down.

Williams contends that he never received any of the notices and said he couldn't figure out why the letters were mailed to four separate banks where he never had accounts.

He has filed a notice of claim, the first step in a lawsuit against the town, and also is fighting for public records he believes may show what happened.

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Rebecca Ramage-Tuttle, assistant director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia, says the the DOE rule change is “a slippery slope” for civil rights. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC