How far should I take the matter of having been "accidentally" evicted (I did nothing

[redrayya1]

How far should I take the matter of having been "accidentally" evicted (I did nothing

IL

100% innocent here. I was evicted. It was a clerical error. Full stop. I'm not here to say, "I was evicted, but, yeah, I had a pitbull". Nope. Office person, or whomever, sent the paperwork on my unit instead of Bob's. Full story follows, but, I just wanted to ask how far I should take this.

IL

Important: Though this all happened in July 2014, I did not find out about any of this until Sept 2016.

Moved into property in July 2014. Signed, paid, got keys. Went to apartment. Was told to pay rent at the online portal. No checks accepted at property. New user. Portal would not recognize me. Played that song and dance for 13 days with documented calls to the property and their parent corp. Have evidence of all of this. In retrospect, company agrees they are completely at fault.

Property manager tells me they'll take a check. Write a check. Live a feckless existence there for 12 months. Move out in July 2015. Receive pristine rental record. No lates. Receive full deposit. No missed.

FF to September 2016. Two years later. Eviction filing with judgment of 1467 sits on the rental bureau reports and credit record and has been there for nearly 3 years. I can't get an apartment anywhere. Luckily, the place I was staying at already knew me and I had been a model tenant. They ignored the judgment and let me stay.

I blew up the phone at all rental property. Lawyer moves. Property manager (old one long gone) moves on this. Assure me it's their fault. Look at their books. Still their fault. Calls to corporate. Still their fault. Apologies from everywhere immediately to get it removed at the courts.

All parties weep that it was an automated eviction because they told me to skip the online portal but did not update my status as paid. They caught it later which is WHY I CONTINUED TO LIVE THERE.


in December of 2016, Lawyers "downgraded" the "judgment" to satisfied. I had asked for deletion and they assured me of deletion (motion to seal). Apparently, they did not do this, despite admitting this was their error.

This popped up again just the other day. New rental company says too bad, so sad; you seem nice, make good money, etc., but rule is, no J's, satisfied or not.

Went back to them. This time, I talked to the attorney of the property. He understood in under 2 seconds that they were at fault and cleaned it up immediately with a motion to seal. Apologies again.

Here's the rub:

I tell the company I would like the fees that I wasted in applying for apartments reimbursed. It was their fault, after all. They admit that. Attorney tells me to write up a ledger.

I'm busy. I talk to a couple of attorneys in the meantime. They tell me the rule of discovery applies and I would still be able to sue them for much more than fees.

My question here is: property has offered to refund the fees I spent applying and getting rejected because of their gross negligence. I asked for compensation to damages to my credit. They have violated FDCPA. Property said they think it's fair to refund just the fees and are sending a release with the fees to sign.

I am not particularly litigious and I'm honest when I say this. I don't have time for a long drawn out lawsuit, even if it's done on contingency (I've had different degrees of offers).

Yes, this has hurt my credit and I feel they are really awful for not wanting to compensate for emotional duress and defamation via credit reporting, etc. Credit is recovering after having a false public judgment, etc.

Should I take their "shut up" offer and move on or seek to have a huge battle in court? Chances of taking them to the cleaners?

I was also thinking of reporting the attorney to the ARDC because this is partially his fault. He filed against me and then failed to clean it up properly.

thoughts?

 

[LdiJ]

IL

100% innocent here. I was evicted. It was a clerical error. Full stop. I'm not here to say, "I was evicted, but, yeah, I had a pitbull". Nope. Office person, or whomever, sent the paperwork on my unit instead of Bob's. Full story follows, but, I just wanted to ask how far I should take this.

IL

Important: Though this all happened in July 2014, I did not find out about any of this until Sept 2016.

Moved into property in July 2014. Signed, paid, got keys. Went to apartment. Was told to pay rent at the online portal. No checks accepted at property. New user. Portal would not recognize me. Played that song and dance for 13 days with documented calls to the property and their parent corp. Have evidence of all of this. In retrospect, company agrees they are completely at fault.

Property manager tells me they'll take a check. Write a check. Live a feckless existence there for 12 months. Move out in July 2015. Receive pristine rental record. No lates. Receive full deposit. No missed.

FF to September 2016. Two years later. Eviction filing with judgment of 1467 sits on the rental bureau reports and credit record and has been there for nearly 3 years. I can't get an apartment anywhere. Luckily, the place I was staying at already knew me and I had been a model tenant. They ignored the judgment and let me stay.

I blew up the phone at all rental property. Lawyer moves. Property manager (old one long gone) moves on this. Assure me it's their fault. Look at their books. Still their fault. Calls to corporate. Still their fault. Apologies from everywhere immediately to get it removed at the courts.

All parties weep that it was an automated eviction because they told me to skip the online portal but did not update my status as paid. They caught it later which is WHY I CONTINUED TO LIVE THERE.


in December of 2016, Lawyers "downgraded" the "judgment" to satisfied. I had asked for deletion and they assured me of deletion (motion to seal). Apparently, they did not do this, despite admitting this was their error.

This popped up again just the other day. New rental company says too bad, so sad; you seem nice, make good money, etc., but rule is, no J's, satisfied or not.

Went back to them. This time, I talked to the attorney of the property. He understood in under 2 seconds that they were at fault and cleaned it up immediately with a motion to seal. Apologies again.

Here's the rub:

I tell the company I would like the fees that I wasted in applying for apartments reimbursed. It was their fault, after all. They admit that. Attorney tells me to write up a ledger.

I'm busy. I talk to a couple of attorneys in the meantime. They tell me the rule of discovery applies and I would still be able to sue them for much more than fees.

My question here is: property has offered to refund the fees I spent applying and getting rejected because of their gross negligence. I asked for compensation to damages to my credit. They have violated FDCPA. Property said they think it's fair to refund just the fees and are sending a release with the fees to sign.

I am not particularly litigious and I'm honest when I say this. I don't have time for a long drawn out lawsuit, even if it's done on contingency (I've had different degrees of offers).

Yes, this has hurt my credit and I feel they are really awful for not wanting to compensate for emotional duress and defamation via credit reporting, etc. Credit is recovering after having a false public judgment, etc.

Should I take their "shut up" offer and move on or seek to have a huge battle in court? Chances of taking them to the cleaners?

I was also thinking of reporting the attorney to the ARDC because this is partially his fault. He filed against me and then failed to clean it up properly.

thoughts?

While I understand your anger, I think that they are being pretty fair in fixing everything plus refunding your fees. Other than the fees, you do not have any real damages.

 

[redrayya1]

Thank you.

From what I understand (and have been told), it is courtesy to offer triple compensation of fees spent. They are only offering "some of the fees". It is not clear what they mean by "some of the fees" because I have documented all of the fees.

In any case, I defer to you--but it seems they caused much defamation by lowering my credit score and errantly reporting me to CRAs.

I also would like to begin to review them online. They have a very active account on Craigslist and it seems like agents/managers have quotas to fill. I would be reporting my honest experience.

Emotionally, we suffered much and were facing homelessness, despite having an income of 5 figures per month. It was a complete mess (I documented that as well). So far, I have been doing all the negotiating. I have an appointment to see my attorney again next week to re-start the case after they offered what I deem a pittance.

Do you think the release is going to contain a gag order as a contingency?

 

[not2cleverRed]

https://forum.freeadvice.com/landlord-tenant-issues-42/served-eviction-recorded-judgment-i-did-nothing-wrong-638218.html

 

[redrayya1]

Is there a point in quoting this? I'm well aware of its existence.

1). Members were not able to quickly discern that I had posted about two different issues; they conflated two threads, stating they were the same. When that was pointed out to them, they realized this, but the thread is largely a tangent on the fact that I supposedly posted two identical threads. I did not and much of the "information" in that thread was discursive because of a lack of understanding on behalf of members. Thank you for your keenness, though.

2). I've added pertinent, game-changing information in this morning's iteration.

 

[Just Blue]

Do NOT post to other members threads till you know what you are talking about for the state in question and can learn to look at the date of postings.

 

[reenzz]

You do know that the credit bureaus get their info from the courts...not the landlord.

How did you get an eviction judgment against you without being served?

Did you try to mitigate your “damages” by disputing the false report with the credit bureaus?

Did any of the attorneys you spoke with advise you of the statute of limitation for filing a suit?

 

[redrayya1]

You do know that the credit bureaus get their info from the courts...not the landlord.

How did you get an eviction judgment against you without being served?

Did you try to mitigate your “damages” by disputing the false report with the credit bureaus?

Did any of the attorneys you spoke with advise you of the statute of limitation for filing a suit?

Public monetary judgment of the record. It is reported to the bureaus. I found this out ex post facto.

I was never served. They simply filed against me.

I learned about this monetary judgment 24 months after the fact. Then, I did dispute it. It still did damage.

McDermott vs. Barton on statue of limitation/equitable tolling/rule of discovery. I found that the judgement still persisted five months ago.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Is there a point in quoting this? I'm well aware of its existence.

1). Members were not able to quickly discern that I had posted about two different issues; they conflated two threads, stating they were the same. When that was pointed out to them, they realized this, but the thread is largely a tangent on the fact that I supposedly posted two identical threads. I did not and much of the "information" in that thread was discursive because of a lack of understanding on behalf of members. Thank you for your keenness, though.

2). I've added pertinent, game-changing information in this morning's iteration.

Yes. The point is that others may refer to that thread before responding to this one.

And yes, you should have just updated that thread this morning with your "game-changing information".

You found out about this default judgement against you in September 2016. You say that you were never served. That would have been the place to start.

 

[redrayya1]

Yes. The point is that others may refer to that thread before responding to this one.

And yes, you should have just updated that thread this morning with your "game-changing information".

You found out about this default judgement against you in September 2016. You say that you were never served. That would have been the place to start.

Having read the rules, I didn't see your arbitrary admonition (that I should have simply updated) there. I'm not a frequent poster here, and I was unaware of protocol.

If you'd read the thread correctly, you'll see that I did take the steps to remove it in 9/2016. It didn't go away because of malfeasance on the company's part. They simply satisfied the judgment and moved on, after telling me they would "delete" it. I never should have had a judgment.

And, I don't regularly assume to have been served this or that on a daily basis, so I did not "check" if I had a judgment.

It's unfortunate that this forum is more about establishing territory and scolding people than it is about dispensing minimally helpful info. Let the minutia go or simply don't answer the questions posed. I didn't realize this was a basketweaving forum.

 

[FarmerJ]

Have you searched your states laws to learn what the penalty would be to a person who signs that they had properly served someone ( so you can learn the details of who it was that signed saying you were properly served ? Once you know who it was that did the summons service and If your state allows people other than some kind of professional process server or the county sheriffs department to serve eviction summons then perhaps that may give you some satisfaction. AS to the attorney you are thinking of making a complaint about have you contacted your states bar association to learn what you can from them about when a Attorney has made a mistake and is reluctant to fix it?

 

[LdiJ]

Having read the rules, I didn't see your arbitrary admonition (that I should have simply updated) there. I'm not a frequent poster here, and I was unaware of protocol.

If you'd read the thread correctly, you'll see that I did take the steps to remove it in 9/2016. It didn't go away because of malfeasance on the company's part. They simply satisfied the judgment and moved on, after telling me they would "delete" it. I never should have had a judgment.

And, I don't regularly assume to have been served this or that on a daily basis, so I did not "check" if I had a judgment.

It's unfortunate that this forum is more about establishing territory and scolding people than it is about dispensing minimally helpful info. Let the minutia go or simply don't answer the questions posed. I didn't realize this was a basketweaving forum.

Based on the way that you described things, as a total mixup, I suspect that they served the original person they wanted to evict, with the eviction suit for you, and of course that person just disregarded it...and therefore it ended up as a default.

I agree that the attorney took the lazy way out at first by simply showing the judgment as satisfied. However, the problem is, is that its not really possible to entirely erase it. Its going to be in the data banks of any background check services who have checked your background. However, if it gets properly sealed then anyone double checking their database won't be able to verify it.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Having read the rules, I didn't see your arbitrary admonition (that I should have simply updated) there. I'm not a frequent poster here, and I was unaware of protocol.

If you'd read the thread correctly, you'll see that I did take the steps to remove it in 9/2016. It didn't go away because of malfeasance on the company's part. They simply satisfied the judgment and moved on, after telling me they would "delete" it. I never should have had a judgment.

And, I don't regularly assume to have been served this or that on a daily basis, so I did not "check" if I had a judgment.

It's unfortunate that this forum is more about establishing territory and scolding people than it is about dispensing minimally helpful info. Let the minutia go or simply don't answer the questions posed. I didn't realize this was a basketweaving forum.

The only way to remove a judgement is for YOU to go to court. Use your google-fu and look up "How to remove a judgement" - or some similar phrase.

Of course the company is only going to say the judgement is satisfied. An old court judgement cannot be changed without going to court.

 

[IslandProcess]

It sounds like they made many errors, including improper service of process. I wouldn't trust the attorney who is responsible for the errors be the one to fix them for you. It's safer to have your own representative handle this. Speak with an attorney and then sit back while the "long drawn out lawsuit" is fought for you.