[Jimbo_1966]

I rented a townhome in march of 2011. During the process I and my son who is 24 and lived with me made thorough notes on the damage form and noted everything down to the last detail. For example the oven was filthy and almost started a fire the first time we used it and were warming it up, the fridge was filthy and had mold along the seals, the toilets all had severe hard water stains and the heat vents and heater were all coated with dust. The manager said they were "not finished cleaning, that the heater and ducts were going to be cleaned in the spring, and the owner planned on putting in a water softener" None of this happened. I also discussed with her5 the fract that my rent, although the lease says payment must be received by the 4th, would be paid anywhere between the 5th and 20th due to my pay schedule and other financial obligations. That was fine as long as I had a check to her by the 4th.
Well, none of the repairs were made, the manager did honor the rental payments when I got her the check by the 4th and waited to cash them every month though.
The washing machine got to the point of being unusable due to the water deposit build up and would smoke when being used. The landlord has other units that had similar problems but did advertise the dishwasher and washing machine and dryer in the advertisement I responded to as well as others I printed throughout the year.
Then in July of 2011 a seal broke on the upstairs washing machine and flooded the entire ceiling in the downstairs. Water ran through the air ducts, into the light fixtures and totally saturated the downstairs carpet as well as my couch. It took well over a day to get maintenance out and they stalled and tried to blame me by saying I must've left a sock or towel in the overflow basin, did I move the washer etc... When maintenance finally came out he acknowledged it was a broken seal, but had to come back with the right equipment. He did the next day, but pulled out the dryer to fix the washer and the vent pipe came off the dryer. At the time he did not say anything to us. After he left and we began using the laundry room we noticed intense heat, humidity and a lot of lint in the air. I looked behind the dryer without moving it and noticed it was just hanging from the wall mount. The dryer would get so hot it would burn you if you touched it due to the faulty venting. After many calls and almost a week they maintenance man said, "oh, i didnt have the right equipment, i'll come back and fix it in a few days." it took him until January and they never cleaned the carpet, vents or did anything about the flooding and water damage. In October I began having breathing problems ( I do have manageable asthma) and had to go to the ER. My breathing continued to be bad and I ended up in the ER 5 times over a 7 month period, missed 18 days of work, had to go on FMLA or be fired, and developed an Anxiety and Panic disorder due to the constant possibility of an asthma attack. I lived in constant fear. I also notified the landlord every month of the problems and although maintenance came out in January the problem persisted, but he did nothing. I could not move due to finances.
Finally in April I told the landlord I needed his fax number to serve him with papers. Approximately a week later he started the eviction process.
He also had the local manager driving by frequently and she would slowly drive by while on her phone. In a weeks time I also had 3 flat tires. I also received a letter stating that I may be in violation of my lease if I had made payments to "PMJ Management" instead of NuHome Management" because my lease says NUhome and payments made to PMJ would not be counted towards my obligation. My lease actually was up in March and it was actually signed with PMJ. I believe this was a brazen attempt along with the drive bys and flat tires to intimidate me.
While I persisted on filing papers against the landlord he filed for eviction saying I had not paid the rent for march, April, and may. I actually had paid and they had cashed the checks for march and april(which were cashed at the normal time between the 5th and 20th) and no late fees were charged just like there never were late fees charged throughout the lease term. The eviction papers also stated I owed late fees which was another lie compared to the course of the lease where I always paid late.
I could not get all my paperwork, including cancelled checks in time for court and because I was having an extreme anxiety attack I settled. I fulfilled the obligations of the settlement, but also filed paperwork to have the judge review and order a new hearing due to the facts that I had anxiety attacks, and could not get all the paperwork in time. I did this within 72 hours of the hearing which should have rescinded the settlement.
I also filed retaliation papers which under MSS 504b state very clearly the landlord must present proof that the eviction was not retaliation. The judge denied the rescinding of the settlement and out of hand denied the retaliation papers. I then asked to quash the writ and just as I had with the rescinding of the settlement and the retaliation papers I proved the landlord had lied about my not paying the rent, proved he had cashed checks late all along, proved that he fail;ed to do the repairs and proved the diagnosis of anxiety/panic disorder as well as my asthma exacerbations.
The judge denied them out of hand.
Now I want to sue the landlord for my medical bills, negligence, missed work and also have him held in contempt for filing false information in the original eviction papers and for his retaliation against me for protecting my rights as a tenant. I have extensive documentation, pictures, videos, and statements to prove everything. I now have all my checks as well and can literally prove everything.
How do I proceed?

[JudyKayTee]

Please don't keep posting the same question.

As I am reading this (and correct me if I'm wrong - a lot of what you posted is immaterial) you were month to month and always paid on time (and can prove it), the residence was unihabitable and you can prove through a Physician's statement that it made you ill (aggravated a previous condition), you notifed the landlord that it was uninhabitable, the landlord then evicted you for unpaid rent or rent paid late. You proved that you were never late and tried to reverse the eviction but could not.

Now you want to sue the landlord for your medical expenses and other losses due to the uninhabitable apartment.

The Court is going to ask why, if your health was suffering, you stayed. Also, did you notify the Health Department and the landlord in writing about the conditions?

As long as you can back up your medical problems with reports from Physicians and back up your written complaints to the landlord you have a shot at winning. I don't know if you can prove retaliation and not just that the landlord chose not to remember, I don't know.

Am I close?

[deville p]

Please don't keep posting the same question.

As I am reading this (and correct me if I'm wrong - a lot of what you posted is immaterial) you were month to month and always paid on time (and can prove it), the residence was unihabitable and you can prove through a Physician's statement that it made you ill (aggravated a previous condition), you notired the landlord that it was uninhabitable, the landlord then evicted you for unpaid rent or rent paid late. You proved that you were never late and tried to reverse the eviction but could not.

Now you want to sue the landlord for your medical expenses and other losses due to the uninhabitable apartment.

The Court is going to ask why, if your health was suffering, you stayed. Also, did you notify the Health Department and the landlord in writing about the conditions?

As long as you can back up your medical problems with reports from Physicians and back up your written complaints to the landlord you have a shot at winning. I don't know if you can prove retaliation and not just that the landlord chose not to remember, I don't know.

Am I close?

Judy is right! How about you ask for advice on getting over what happened. Things happen! I don't think a judge will rule in your favor.

[Jimbo_1966]

Yes, very close. I have all the doctors bills, the diagnosis of asthma exacerbation, missed time, rent checks, etc... not sure how I sue him though. I am also not sure why the judge denied everything out of hand without any further proof from the landlord which 504b retaliation states must be done(the lanldord must prove it is not retaliation) I also hjad to stay there despite all the crap because I had to stay in the school district of my kids and I financially cold not afford to move. I had isolated myself in a room away from the issues. I did notify the local building inspector and they did inspect and sent a letter to the landlord about his findings. I also have email proof that they did not come back to fix things as well as all my cancelled checks they had cashed and then tried to go retroactively to get late fees. The paperwork originally filed by the landlord had false statements as well, saying I had not paid the rent for march, April and may, but they had accepted and cashed the checks for march and April, then when I told him I was pursuing a lawsuit he returnded may and filed the writ of eviction

[Jimbo_1966]

Judy is right! How about you ask for advice on getting over what happened. Things happen! I don't think a judge will rule in your favor.

Things do happen but allowing an unhealthy situation to go unaddressed for 8 months all the while I was informing him of the situation is negligence. I had no where else to go and could not afford to move and had to stay in my kids' school district.
I repeatedly asked him to fix things and he ignored it. I did inform the local authorities and they noted the damage and conditions and wrote him a letter,

[Jimbo_1966]

I was being intimidated as well with the local land lady driving by, my flat tires etc...
I am not being very clear here I understand that, but I did whatever I could but was limited by a court order for custody and needing to be in that school district as well as finances. I asked to be released from the lease in January due to the conditions and got no response. The initial paperwork for the eviction has false information on it. There is the prior practice of cashing my checks late all along and never had any late fees, then they lie and say I didn't pay the rent in march and April, but they had already cashed those checks. When I was taken to the er by the ambulance one of the times an EMT stated he could smell the mold.

[ScottGem]

The problem here is that you lost on the other issues. You can prove you were treated for asthma, but can you prove it was caused by issues in the apartment? If you can't you will lose. And since you had no air quality checks or reported things to the health department, unless I missed something, you will probably lose.

[JudyKayTee]

I see a heavy burden of proof which I don't think you can meet - but sue in Small Claims, roll the dice and see what happens.

[AK lawyer]

...
He also had the local manager driving by frequently and she would slowly drive by while on her phone. ...

i was being intimidated as well with the local land lady driving by, ...

This part is utter BS. The landord is perfectly within his/her rights to drive by and to do so is not "intimidation".

[JudyKayTee]

Didn't even catch this - I don't know what happened but there does appear to be a certain level of hysteria (for lack of another term) which probably was apparent as this matter went through the Courts.