This is maddening!

[Karen G]

About six years ago we bought our house, but because we would not be ready to move into it until last summer, we rented it out. Our first tenant leased the house for two years while his house was being built in the same neighborhood.

When he moved out the place was so trashed that we kept his security deposit and had to spend a couple of thousand dollars more to restore the house to rentable condition. We had two other tenants in the house thereafter who took good care of the place, and we moved into it ourselves last year.

Last year a couple of months before moving in, while living in another state, we got notice from our former property manager that the first tenant was bringing a lawsuit against her for the return of the security deposit. She hired an attorney to represent her and appeared in court to answer the complaint. Turns out the lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction and was thrown out. However, we had to pay her attorney fees as she was theoretically representing us as the property owner.

A short time later we were served notice that the tenant was now suing us in small claims court in the correct jurisdiction. We had to fly down to answer the complaint and we appeared in court at the appointed time, armed with photos, bills, much documentation, and our property manager. The tenant did not show up! The case was dismissed.

Today I received a notice of judgement in the mail that the tenant has obtained against us. It says he tried to have us served with his new complaint but was unable to, so he "published" notice of the new hearing, which happened July 21, unbeknownst to us! We were never served any papers and had no idea he had filed a new complaint. Of course we never saw any published notice in the paper. Who knows what paper he even published it in. (He's a lawyer, by the way.)

Now I'm waiting for a call back from the judge's assistant with information about what our options are.

Anyone have any advice? I'm thinking maybe we should bring a small claims case against him for the total amount of money he has cost us. I wonder how we can get this judgement dismissed because I think he can probably put a lien on our house with this judgement. It just doesn't seem right that he can sue us again on this same matter when he didn't show up in court the last time.

 

[pjrose]

Wow. This person sounds disturbed, to say the least. You say his house was being built in the same neighborhood - same as your house? Does he still live there?

Definitely consult a lawyer. Maybe you can countersue for the damages plus all the expenses of these new legal problems.

Good thing you saved receipts, pictures, etc. Keep documenting and saving copies.

 

[ricoba]

Yikes!

It are stories like this that make me thankful I have never been a landlord.

Good luck in resolving this mess.

 

[CMF]

After all is said and done - write a letter to the Nevada Bar Association detailing what this bozo has done. This character is like the JUDGE here in DC who sued his dry cleaner for $54 million for loosing a pair of pants!

Charles

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

Definitely get a lawyer to get this guy to reimburse you and then GO AWAY, far away.
Liz

 

[Fern Modena]

When you speak to the judge's clerk, point out that he hadn't made a "good faith effort" to serve you. Or even to send you a notice. He should have sent you a letter to your last known address. If he didn't know you were in the house, he would have sent it to the address you had in WA. But we're both pretty sure that he knew you were in the house, so at the very least he should have sent a certified, return receipt requested letter to the property address.

Make sure that the clerk knows he's a lawyer and is playing games, too. What judge? Not Stephen (Baby Daddy) Jones, I hope? Bonaventure? Williams?

Good luck!

Fern

 

[e.bram]

If you go to court and the plaintiff does not appear, ask the judge to dismiss the complaint with prejudice. Then the planitiff cannot refile without filing a motion.

 

[Karen G]

Follow-up

The judge is Rodney T. Burr. We went to the courthouse and filed a form for a re-hearing. Hopefully we'll get to appear before the judge and present our side of this. We've also requested copies of all the documents in the file so we can see where he supposedly had papers served. We'll get those tomorrow and see where we go from here.

 

[Karen G]

But we're both pretty sure that he knew you were in the house, so at the very least he should have sent a certified, return receipt requested letter to the property address.

It's interesting that he sent the copy of the judgement to our house where we've lived for over a year now. The clerk said he had the paper showing we were being sued again served at our former address in WA that we haven't lived at for about a year and a half.

 

[CSB]

Karen, I don't have any advice but I wish you all the best of luck dealing with this lunatic. I wish there was something we could do about all the crazies who waste people's time and money on nonsense like this.

 

[teepeeca]

I could be somewhat "confused" by all of this, BUT. let me see if "I" can wade through all of this mess.

If he/she did NOT show up for a hearing, not only should the case have been dismissed, BUT "favor" should have been found for you. (Ask that presiding judge to enter a judgement in your favor---that should end everything.)

Next. Since there has been another "legal" action, of course you will want to answer it. BUT, respond by your own suit against the tenant (small claims court one person files---the other "really" doesn't want to do anything, BUT, NOW, you "ZAP" him !!!)

I am assuming that you had all of the proper paperwork to the tenant, showing WHY you are withholding some/all of the security deposit, AND, it was presented within the regulated timelines.

Tony

 

[e.bram]

Put in a counterclaim for the damage costs exceeding the security. if he doesn't show up this time you will have a judgement aganist him. You should have done this the first time you went to court.

 

[Karen G]

I could be somewhat "confused" by all of this, BUT. let me see if "I" can wade through all of this mess.

If he/she did NOT show up for a hearing, not only should the case have been dismissed, BUT "favor" should have been found for you. (Ask that presiding judge to enter a judgement in your favor---that should end everything.)

Next. Since there has been another "legal" action, of course you will want to answer it. BUT, respond by your own suit against the tenant (small claims court one person files---the other "really" doesn't want to do anything, BUT, NOW, you "ZAP" him !!!)

I am assuming that you had all of the proper paperwork to the tenant, showing WHY you are withholding some/all of the security deposit, AND, it was presented within the regulated timelines.

Tony

At the first small claims action we showed up at the appointed time ready to present our case. Since the tenant was the plaintiff and we were the defendants, when he didn't show up, the judge didn't let us give our side of the case. He just said the case was dismissed. If we had filed a countersuit at the time we were served the first time, we could have presented our case. But, we had consulted with a lawyer before we went and she said it would be best to answer the complaint, get that over with, and then pursue a separate small claims case.

As for the second legal action, we never were served papers notifying us that there was another lawsuit. We didn't show up for the hearing because we didn't know there was one! But, the plaintiff showed up and since we weren't there to defend ourselves, he got a judgement against us.

Now we've filed a paper with the judge for a re-hearing so that we can tell our side of the story. Hopefully, we'll get to do that.

 

[davhu1]

Did your lease specified that you can keep the deposit for demages and that you sent a letter to the tenant when he moved out that you will not be returning the depsoit due to the condition of the property and allow him the opportunity to respond?

If you keep the deposit, you usually have to inform the tenant the reason and have a walk thru with him based on the move-in / move-out condition of the unit.

Did you document the damage and expenses?

If you did, you should counter suit for expenses plus legal fees. You also a have witness (property manager) to the damage. so you should have a good case.

Your tenant is scaring you for money. He has a laywer and does not cost him anything and hope you would give in. Most state laws favor the tenants.

What is the role of the property manager? Why isn't her company covering the cost of legal fee. Did she do her job properly?

 

[Autoeng]

Was the judgement against you filed in your home state?

 

[e.bram]

You got bad advice. In NJ and presumably elsewhere all issues concerning the litigating parties must me presented at the same time. You would not have been permitted to sue later after the first case was adjuducated. This is known as the "docturn of entire controvesy"

 

[Karen G]

You got bad advice.

Must be different in Nevada, and this is small claims court, so that may be different rules, too. Anyway, they told us at the courthouse that even though the tenant had sued us once before on the same matter (when he didn't show up and it was dismissed), he could still bring another suit for the same thing.

 

[Karen G]

Did your lease specified that you can keep the deposit for demages and that you sent a letter to the tenant when he moved out that you will not be returning the depsoit due to the condition of the property and allow him the opportunity to respond? Yes, we sent him the letter itemizing all the damages.

If you keep the deposit, you usually have to inform the tenant the reason and have a walk thru with him based on the move-in / move-out condition of the unit. We flew down from WA for the walk-through and had an appointment to meet him at the house. He never showed up then either!

Did you document the damage and expenses?Oh, yes--in living color. We have pictures of everything and copies of all the bills for fixing it.

If you did, you should counter suit for expenses plus legal fees. You also a have witness (property manager) to the damage. so you should have a good case. We were ready with all our evidence and our property manager was with us the first time--and tenant didn't show.

Your tenant is scaring you for money. He has a laywer and does not cost him anything and hope you would give in. Most state laws favor the tenants. He IS a lawyer and we think he thinks we are intimidated by that fact.

What is the role of the property manager? Why isn't her company covering the cost of legal fee. Did she do her job properly? She did everything according to our contract with her but in that contract is a stipulation that the property owner has to reimburse her for legal fees incurred on the property. That's why we had the added expense of her legal fees when the tenant first sued her in the wrong jurisdiction and that case was dismissed.

Now you can see why this is so MADDENING!

 

[davhu1]

My colleague had a similar situation with a tenant. The tenant took him to small claims court and agreed on artibtration and then lost. My colleague had all the proof. I would consider consulting a lawyer and counter-suit.

 

[Karen G]

I would consider consulting a lawer and counter-suit.

That's our next step after we resolve the judgement issue.

 

[pianodinosaur]

This sounds like a case for Bill O'Reilly. He loves taking on pinhead judges on national TV.

 

[Karen G]

Update

Today I went back to the courthouse to pick up copies of all the documentation pertaining to this latest small claims judgement, and the clerk let me know the judge had agreed to a re-hearing and it's scheduled for Monday morning at 8 a.m. I can't wait to be able to present all our evidence to the judge.

In looking over the copies it really looks like the tenant/attorney tried his best to keep us from finding out he had sued us again. We took the copy of the envelope of his demand letter (first step in filing a small claims & which is to be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested) to the post office to see if they could tell us if it had really been sent. The clerk said it didn't have a post office postmark--the law office had printed their own postage--and the certified mail sticker didn't have the round stamp that the post office puts on that sticker showing they accepted it. We paid $4.35 to have it researched to see where it was received. It was received at the tenant's law office and signed for by one of the employees there, but it never came to us!

The address for us on the document showing that we were being sued was our correct address where we now live. But, the copies of the sheet showing where the papers were served to let us know we were being sued showed that a process server in Washington state tried to serve it to our former address and the lady who answered the door stated that we didn't live there anymore "but she thought we had moved to Nevada."

The tenant/attorney got permission from the judge to "publish" the notice that we were being sued since we weren't ever served. He published the notice in the "Nevada Legal News" some daily publication that I've never heard of.

I'll report back Monday what happens next!

 

[Patri]

Man, this is getting good.

 

[dmharris]

Man, this is getting good.

Yeah, I was thinking this could be an episode of some law TV show.

 

[pianodinosaur]

Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse

You may consider looking up Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. A friend of mine is a podiatrist whose office manager was recently murdered while in her office. It turns out that her ex-husband had hired a hit man to do the job. There is good reason to believe that the ex-husband and her son were both in on the crime. Now they are suing the my friend under the complaint that she filed to provide adequate security in her office.

Another friend of mine just returned from Guatemala after spending a week doing charity medical work. Numerous people have asked why he didn't do charity work here at home. Frivilous lawsuits have put an end to that a long time ago. I have friends who are being sued because they took time off to help Katrina victims. A 21 year old pregnant IV drug abusing illegal alien showed up in our local ER with abruptio placenta and DIC. Numerous people dropped everything to help her and all they go in return was a lawsuit.

Another friend of mine owns a business and rents the building. Some gang members got into a disupte after midnight and they shot each other infront of the building. Now the families of the gang bangers have filed a suit against my friend because he failed to provide adequate security.