I got sued by a tenant for personal property left behind

Back in January this year, I filed eviction thru small claims court on a tenant, she was 30 days behind, I got the court order procession, court ordered the tenant move out within 72 hrs.

After I had procession, the tenant move most of their furniture and personal belongings, left bunch of food, clothing and junks behind, so I donated whatever are decent to a charity and thru the rest a way, it took 4 days and 2 guys to finish that and 3 more days for cleaning and repair.

2nd court day come around for judgment on damage and back rent, tenant's parent hire an attorney to represent her, try to argue they did not have enough time to move, whatever left behind was valuable, and by law, I have to kept in storage for up to 90 days, the judge thru this portion of the argument out because the hearing was for back rent and damage.

The initial judgment awarded was $1780, which covers back rent and cleaning, so I appeal the case for additional late fee and others which later I won an additional $640, for total judgment of $2420 plus court cost.

July 1, I started the collection process thru court, file all the paperwork,
and the tenant's attorney file a counter sue for their personal property left behind for $2000 and I got the court summon July 15th.

So, I filed a motion to dismiss the case as followed:

DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS CASE

Comes now Defendant, Jy101 in the above captioned case and requests that the case be dismissed, without prejudice, and in support of this motion would show the Court the following:

1. That the defendant, as Landlord, took procession of the property at xxx st, xxx town, Indiana on Feb 8, 2008 after obtain a court ordered possession, Case No. 43D03-0801-SC-1 on Feb 1, 2008.
2. That the plaintiff was never given any forwarding addressing or phone number to landlord for further notices to be send.
3. That the defendant, as Landlord, under INDIANA CODE IC 32-31-4-2 (b) had determined that tenant has abandoned the premise and any personal property left behind, since she had sufficient time to move after appearing the hearing on Feb 1, 2008, and the defendant had left the premise open and unlock for an additional 7 days after possession in order for tenant to take their belongings.
4. That under INDIANA CODE IC 32-31-4-2 (a), A landlord has no liability for loss or damage to a tenant’s personal property if the tenant’s personal property has been abandoned by the tenant.

On the same day I got the court summon, I forwarded it to my insurance and file a claim under landlords liability, today, the insurance adjuster called, I told the insurance that I DO NOT want to settle with the tenant, so the adjuster said they will hire an attorney defend me on this case.

I currently have 24 open case on eviction, judgment, collection or civil warrant, I am in court once or twice a week. and I also got sued or counter sued numerals times, but so far I had not lost any cases.

more to come, as I post any updates.........

所有跟帖： 

• Thanks for sharing and good luck. -6grizzly- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 10:33:13

• Brother, -Wisdom101- ♂ (187 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 10:35:56

• thanks for sharing -东南风起- ♂ (136 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 10:46:57

• This is a good one. A very good one. -va_landlord- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 11:13:48

• Go Bro. Thanks for sharing -抛玉引砖- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 11:35:12

• 回复：I got sued by a tenant for personal property left behind -svll- ♂ (257 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 11:40:47

• WOW, 24 open cases, Thanks for sharing. Waiting for more -Beenthereyes- ♀ (0 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 12:10:07

• This is how I did it in my county: -miat42- ♂ (1081 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 12:31:28

• Is it legal to moved everything out to the street corner? -chinanemo- ♀ (57 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 20:31:48

• jy101 you are the man! -cultuslake- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 12:34:01

• Your prob maybe that you didn't carry out a standard eviction pr -miat42- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 12:55:09

• please explain in details. -yanon- ♂ (0 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 13:12:34

• If you carry out standard eviction procedure with sheriff -miat42- ♂ (572 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 13:17:08

• Another details here: -miat42- ♂ (528 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 13:29:21

• Indiana is different. -jy101- ♂ (284 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 13:54:19

• I would blame Indiana law to be too relaxed, leaving -miat42- ♂ (37 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 14:20:34

• anyone can sue you for anything for any reason... -jy101- ♂ (159 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 14:25:03

• I can't imagine an eviction without police. If police -miat42- ♂ (209 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 14:44:06

• you can not kick people out without a court ordered eviction -jy101- ♂ (53 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 15:01:52

• landlord is a 24/7 job. "going to court 1to2 times -yanon- ♂ (54 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 13:10:45

• I really don't have a job at all, most of my time is overseeing -jy101- ♂ (54 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 13:55:58

• how many house do you have?? -hmo- ♂ (65 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 13:28:07

• not that many..I know a few that has lot more than me -jy101- ♂ (252 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 14:01:46

• Thanks for sharing and good luck!!! -AB+- ♀ (0 bytes) () 07/17/2008 postreply 13:39:18