FEDERAL COURT TO HEAR ALABAMA HOME EVICTION CASE (427 hits)
What you are about to read is becoming more and more commonplace during this period of economic decline that no pundit seems to be able to make sense of. One of the many 'victims' of this cruel recession has been the American homeowner-check out the foreclosure notices in your local newspaper-and those renting. And remember, the foreclosure can fall on the part of the property owner (home purchaser) or a tenant whose landlord has been foreclosed.
So, 'Picture This! You have just turned on to your block anxious to get to your drive so you and the kids can pile out of the family car so that all of you can do what you normally do when arriving at your house after a busy, perhaps busiest day of the week. You look at your place and something is not right. A longer look confirms some of the clutter along the curb by your driveway confirms as two neighbors appearing to relay what you sense will be bad news...
You and your family have been evicted. This is no mistake. You are at your home, they are your neighbors but your dining room set-some chairs already gone should be in your dining room as you left them earlier in the morning. And as you unbelievably think-this is America and what you and the children are witnessing cannot be happening . Not to your family.
Well dear reader, it does and is happening to scores of Americans each week. And it is a shattering, sickening, gut-wrenching experience to go through. There before your eyes is your family's life, nealry everything that defines you. The next reality that hits you is what do you do? Where do you go because to linger on the property means the owner whether it's a bank or individual may have a cause of action for trespass against you if this dispossession action was not done in error.
At this point I wish to share with you what would be an embarrassing account of an eviction were it not ,in my opinion, it was both wrongful and illegal. My family and I have just gone through such an eviction. But let's go back so you can follow how we got from a lovely dwelling to being displaced but not homeless as another very suitable dwelling is now our new home. Our landlord tenant problem has been brewing for some time with several court encounters-and 'wins' until now. And after my wife and I formed a tenants association to become advocates for tenants' rights under the recently passed (2006) ALABAMA UINIFORM LANDLORDRD TENANT ACT OF 2007, the tempo of the landlord's bullying, self-help tactics greatly increased . His menacing threats and aggressive moves had prompted us and some of the other association members to seek warrants for his assaultive behavior and threats.
Well, it seems to us that his hostility came to the full when he was requested to replace a dishwasher which had not beeen used for most of the time-5 years- we had rented (with option to purchase-whenever...) and the replacement of a roof and may have just been a little too much and an air conditioning system , too. But our concerns with the swine flu demanded that this old moldy appliance be removed from our home.
His actions appeared retaliatory, pugilistic and combined with his defective eviction notice procedures we felt gave us enough reasons to take him to both state and federal court. Although our case at the local level was denied and now appears to have a better state chance on appeal, imagine our joy when the U.S. District Court for the middle district of Alabama in Montgomery, my boyhood hometown agreed to hear our case.
Our eviction was both wrongful and illegal we claim. In addition, he has violated our civil rights, those of our tenants because of his racial overtones made in some of his remarks; we have a claim for irreparable harm because of not receiving "adequate" notice , a right we are entitled to in state and the United States Constitutions (discussed in the following blog), and for the post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety this landlord has heaped upon our family and several more derogatory issues I will not mention here.
I am sharing this story because violations of this kind are happening too frequently and we have found among our tenant association members they have experienced stark terror when asked or receiving eviction notices in the mail they simply vacate. This simply should not be the case in many situations, even in foreclosures. For those who desire to I invite you to follow our Federal Court case which can be accessed on the WEB: WILLIAM. B COOPER & RENATA S COOPER v. DANNY M HAYES (DBA HAYES PROPERTIES< INC.-All that needs to be typed in your browser.
We have asked the Court to certify this case as a class action and if any of the readers know of seemingly illegal evictions or home foreclosures contact and questions can be answered about becoming a member of the class.
