Last Thursday July 09 2009, we went to court because our landlord sued us, supposedly for not letting his workers work in our apartment. This happened August 2008, well over 11 months ago. He wanted us to pay $304! The money is not the point. 2 years ago, us tenants were tired of Alber (landlord) not making repairs or fumigations to the building and decided to organize and get the city to pressure him into fixing it up, we got what we demanded for. After that he has been angry because we did something about his unwillingness to repair. He took me and my family to court and tried to evict us. We won that case, he didnt have much to prove his argument of why we should be evicted from our place.
Thursday morning we were getting ready to fight in court we tried to remember everything that had happened on August 2008. My mom was there for half day on Tuesday. Then Wednesday for the whole day, that was her day off. Her testimoney gave the weight to our case. However, that was not enough because the judge said, "Well since he fixed your unit and you the tenants are the benificiaries, then you should pay the landlord for his services", the landlord looked at me and put his hand out for what he thought was rightfully his. Then the Judge asked, "Is there anything else that you would like to add?" Of course we werent going down so fast. I told the judge about his act of retaliation. I also added that the city inspector was in our apartment calling the landlord and telling him that the repairs were needed and if they werent going to comply then he would be in violation of the tenant laws.
The Judge then looked at us and said, "Well then that changes the whole picture, if the city was involved then the tenants don't owe you nothing." He looked at Albert "Was the city inspector involved?" Albert said, "It was the county and I fixed the cabinets on my own and that wasn't in the inspectors report because it was infested with roaches", That closed the case for Mr. Albert, the judge saw that he is a slumlord who needs to be told by the city to make repairs. Albert in his last attempt said, "Im not charging the the tenants for the kitchen cabinets but for my workers who werent let in on that day to make repairs." the judge said, "Did you make the repairs the next day?" Albert said, "yeah, but my workers were only there for one day" The judge just said, "Okay, then you fixed it and whether or not you put your own money into the kitchen cabinets, tenants need to live in habital conditions...........Verdict for the Defendants"
We have gone to court 2 times with the landlord and we have won both of them so far. We dont know what to expect from the landlord, but we do know that we have to be prepared for what is to come from this sneaky person. His plan was not to get $304, but to try and dominate over us. That wasn't the case because we werent going down without a fight. My family was organized before the case began, we were united as we entered the courtroom and victorious as we set out into the hallway. Don't stop fighting, keep organizing!
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