NOW THIS REPLY SOUNDS LIKE WHAT I'VE BEEN READING! Thank you.
The basis? After a storm in florida f.e.m.a. came though and offered a check each month till? But I had my fill of the florida storms so my mother offered to sign a lease in ohio due to my having lost (almost everything). I and the wife/lessor and my mom were present. So my mom signed a 1-year lease that was up in 2013. I resumed the new lease with mr. crow but he had written my last name as the same as my mother's so I told him I couldn't sign it till corrected. When he returned for his next quarterly rent (it was a month to month but he liked quarterly and so did i), he had forgotten to make the new lease and he stated he trusted me and if I didn't pay I'd simply get evicted. We shook and that was that. Nearing the end of my one-year lease I gave notice to vacate and the landlord did a walkthrough, all fine except for one little 6" square hole...I fixed above and beyond then the floods from the upstairs tenant came which i recorded on video each time. Then the landlord was working on the property after the tenant upstairs started a fire and I recorded as plaster was falling from the ceiling (youtube: 1335 north limestone street springfield )
5 or 6 months after I moved out I began receiving threat letters to pay or else. 6 more months later they take my mother to court for almost $5k and then the court awards the judgment to the husband of the lessor (I believe I had more right to be a party in that case than the husband of the lessor that not only wasn't present but did not sign any lease agreement). The case is:
Web Search
But my site shows exhibits at :
Clark County Clerk of Courts Municipal Court of Springfield Ohio Common Pleas Case
18 motions with dvd videos, signed documents, rental receipts, photos, all denied.
At court I was reduced to a sequestered witness with my trembling mother who had never been sued or called into a court room just didn't know what to do or say. Everytime I tried to hold up a receipt or state something about the evidence I was hushed and scolded. At one point my mom finally said something sensible "do you have any evidence in the court that would prove I was not the "cause" of damages", YES, I replied, VIDEOS AND MORE ARE RIGHT THERE IN THE BRIEFCASE but then she didn't know how to compel the court for me to make a move off the bench and the judge seemed disinterested. All in all they allowed me less than 20 minutes in there. The opposing party asked only two questions of nonsense and my mom took 5 minutes just to pull a sentence or two before either the opposing counsel or the judge was scolding her (apparently for not being an attorney). I stated lack of subject matter jurisdiction in my first motion prior to pre-trial and after being denied on the second motion to become a party to the case i appealed to the court of appeals and the municipal didn't wait for their decision. december 1 we went to trial then this month, the 14th the appellate returned with, "concurr". Shameful in my opinion.
The incident and the epilogue make the matter clearer.
It appears to have begun in small claims (or a court of lower level), but eventually found its way into the appellate system.
Unfortunately for you, a matter on appeal affords you no ability to enter new evidence, offer new arguments, or do ANYTHING but address errors made by the trial court.
You CAN argue about errors of law, omissions, evidentiary missteps, or rulings from the bench.
You don't get to try the case again, only the alleged missteps or errors you allege occurred at trial.
Moreover, you could have avoided the entire series of events by simply ignoring the attempts to serve you.
You had the absolute right to challenge an Ohio court's ability to obtain "in personam" jurisdiction over you, a resident of Florida for a minor civil dispute.
An Ohio criminal court could have overcome a legal argument along those lines.
An Ohio civil court plaintiff, not a governmental entity, would have not.
It seems you stepped into IT, by voluntarily appearing to argue the matter upon appeal, or by taking leave to appeal.
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In Personam
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I think we both agree you have a mess.
Depending upon your FICO score, your personal circumstances, you MIGHT be able to avail yourself of a Chapter Seven Personal bankruptcy to shield yourself from any damage the judgment might cause you.
I suggest you educate yourself about such a remedy, talk to a couple local BK attorneys, and reevaluate your position with regard to your personal exposure in regards to the judgment.
From the looks of things, you lost the impenetrable shelter of the "in personam" defense by voluntarily appearing in Ohio to defend something that was unable to harm you, until you submitted to the court's jurisdiction voluntarily, my friend.
