Slumlord has "judge friend"

[MISSVIRGO79]

OK try and stay with me this gets tricky
First incident:
my LL tried to evict me for non payment of rent
judgement-premesis found to be uninhabitable!
Rent reduced by $550\mth for months unpaid and remain reduced until repairs made.
I have three days to pay total of $970 and stay in poss. of premesis if not paid within 3 days total amt owed is $1525 and poss. turned back to LL.
LL and I sign written contract that I am to remain in poss. of premesis however, I must pay total of $1540 to cover late charges and penalties due to fact payment is late. (past 3 day deadline, paid in 13 days instead)
payment in full of $1540 (reciept & contract signed as proof) on 13th day.

Second incident:
On 14th day after hearing (1 day after payment received) LL has sheriff do lockout due to nonpayment by 3rd day, even though I had contract and reciept as proof!!

Third Incident:
I sue LL in small claims court for Breach of Contract. I win judgement of $3000 plus costs.
LL appeals and case reopened for review, judgement reconsidered and decision is found to be justified and again I get judgement for $3000 plus costs.
LL appeals again and case is transferred to Superior Court. Case reheard and again I am the prevailing party, However, My judgement is lowered to $570 plus $60 costs.
Bottom Line- He has no case, 3 judges ruled in my favor, WTF

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Do you have a question?

Sounds like the landlord owes you the $570 plus the $60 court costs.

Gail

P.S. Is this the rental with the folks selling drugs hanging around outside? If so, wouldn't it be better to move when your lease is up?

 

[MISSVIRGO79]

No this is the previous property (went from bad 2 worse) My question is how can he keep appealing the decisions until he gets a judgement hes happy with after several other judges ruled in the same way prior to the last hearing and can I now apppeal? Finally doesnt it seem quite odd that the first couple of judges all came to the same conclusion and all of a sudden he just keeps appealing until the case is sent in his "friends" lap and conveniently the ruling chages so dramatically!!!

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

In your state, the defendant (i.e., the landlord in this matter) is allowed to appeal the judgement of the Small Claims court. The case is then heard in Superior court.

As the plantiff, you can't appeal this last decision, unless, of course, you can actually prove that the judge in this court was biased.

Gail

 

[MISSVIRGO79]

THANK YOU
If in fact I can prove the Judge was bias, what are my options? How would I begin the process? Would I file an appeal, or something against the judge himself? Thanks again for the response, as this is extremely important to me, not because I am seeking financial gain but really because this man is preying on young single mothers who he feels he can bully!

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

What proof do you have that the judge was biased?

Gail

 

[MISSVIRGO79]

The reason I was awarded $3,000 from the first couple of judges is due to the fact that I have a substantial amount of evidence (video, pictures, contracts, & reciepts) to prove my claim and when I requested (from the superior court judge) an explaination as to how his decision was made or how he came to the amount he awarded me, he (judge) never responded to me, additionally, I had a consultation with a lawyer I was referred to by the bar association, she as well said I had solid case and to pursue it further.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Did she mention how much money this might cost you in attorney fees?

This would be important for you to know as it might cost you more than the difference in the initial judgement and what the superior court judge allowed.

Gail

 

[MISSVIRGO79]

It was before the first initial small claims hearing when I had the consultation, I met with her to make sure it was even worth pursuing; at that time she informed me of the fees for services (way beyond my budget) but explained to me that I could not be represented in Small Claims Court. I represented myself at both the Small Claim and Superior Court hearings as well as the original unlawful detainer hearing when the property was found uninhabitable. He had a lawyer represent him at all but the Small Claim hearing but due to my abundance of evidence I continued to prevail until the case was transferred to the "friend" judge. I can not prove the two had previously known each other except for the fact that the judgement was obviously not appropriate and completely contradicted the findings of the judges peers. Feel free to review the minute orders or case summary to get a better understanding of the events, you can access this info at http://ccms.stocktoncourt.org/viaplayer/caseSearch.aspx
the case number is SC228702