liability

This is a complicated story. Several years ago my father made some bad real estate investments and lost most of his money. He was left with one small property on his name. He was advised (by a lawyer) to stop paying the taxes and therefore the city (Phila.) would probably repossess it. The taxes were not paid for several years and the property laid dormant. Two years ago someone fell on the property and sued my father. He was surprised because he thought that the city was then responsible for this property. Again, he was advised to do nothing and not even respond to the suit. Recently he was informed that the plaintiff won the case for $50,000. At this point my father's net worth is only $12.000 which is in an IRA account, and he lives on social security. My mother has a separate personal account of $8,000. My parents are both over 70. My question is, can the plaintiff take all of my father's final savings and can he also touch my mother's personal account?