Evicted for Self Defense

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yomama

Moderator
A buddy of mine was blessed, and survived a shootout with two perps. They kicked down his door, and fired two shots. He returned fire, hitting one in the leg, with the other unfortunately getting away. The police have investigated, and are not pressing any charges, saying he did the right thing.

The one perp who was still there tried to say he was shot outside, but the police found blood and shells in the apartment to there went his argument.

One day later, his apartment gave him 24 hour notice to leave. When he met with them, they said he needed to control his guests and family according to his lease. Needless to say, his friends and family don't kick down his door, and usually call first. They definately don't shoot at him also.

Ok, two questions.

1) He has been evicted. Does he have any recourse legally against the apartments?

2) Can this perp go after him in court? My concern is that my buddy may have a difficult time obtaining funds for counsel.

Any input would be much appreciated.

By the way, information on this forum that was shared with my buddy helped to save his life.
 
I would say he has a case against the apartment owners. They wronfully evicted him. Most apartments (at least in Maryland) have to give you 30 days upon eviction notice.

The bad guy probably could take your friend to court, but I do`nt think the bad guy would have anything against your friend to charge him with. Besides the police have the report that the crime was in your friends doorstep. So your friend did nothing wrong.
 
Thankfully your friend is still alive, it's good to know that the things we stand for helped to save a life. :)

That being said, I truly hope the scumbags don't have any legal recourse in this. Victims should not be treated like criminals and criminals should not get to act like victims.

As for his lease it'll probably depend on his state laws. Where are you located? Honestly I don't know if he has legal recourse but, with all due respect, I don't think he should. If the property owner does not want guns on his property he has the right to bar them. If that's the case I certainly wouldn't want to live in a place like that anyways and I'd recommend everyone I know stay far away from such a place.

I do hope he has a legal recourse against the 24 hour notice. That's not enough time to find a new place and get everything moved, it's completely unfair. Best wishes for your friend.
 
By the way, information on this forum that was shared with my buddy helped to save his life.
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That's the most amazing thing I've read all day.

Oh, and I'm finding many people out there don't believe in firearms for self defense, regardless of what the perps do. All they see is a bunch of guns being fired, damn the actual circumstances.

He's better off moving anyway. I hate apartments with a passion.
 
I also believe that the apartment has no legal grounds for evicting him. His attackers were not friends nor family right??? Does the apartment have some lease language expressly prohibiting firearms? If so, that may be some basis for his eviction. The apartment complex is probably just trying to cover their hide since your buddy is now percieved as "trouble". These kinds of incidents go on crime records and may impact the decision for other people to rent there. I'm glad your buddy is safe. I would move if I were him since the other attacker who got away knows where he lives. Be sure that the apartment does not black list him or else he will find it nearly impossible to rent at any apartments. If they do that, he can probably sue for slander.
 
I think that he might have a case against the landlord depending on what his lease says. I also tend to think that he won't recover enough to make it worth his while unless he had a tremendously good deal on his rent.
By the way, information on this forum that was shared with my buddy helped to save his life.
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Could you elaborate on this a bit? Pleeeease? ;)
 
I can't think of a municipality in this country that allows an eviction on 24-hours notice.

If that is actually true, and your friend has the notice in writing, I'd say he's got a better than even chance of getting a lot of money out of the owners of the apartment.

In most municipalities the eviction process can take, literally, months to complete.
 
Usually there is a minimum amount of time from the time you get the notice till the time you leave. . It took an acquaintance of ours here in our part of Texas 6 months to evict somebody.

Question??? Is that notice just a piece of paper with the owner or managers signature? Or is it a legal eviction notice signed by a judge. There is a difference.

Usually you get a written notice form the landlord requesting you move. If you don't move then the landlord has to file a lawsuit against you. You usually have a few days to respond to court. Then the judge decides. Then you usually get served with an eviction notice by a law enforcement officer if you still haven't
moved. The law enforcement officer enforces the court order. I don't think any landlord in his right mind is going to forcibly move you out on his own. Sounds like he just got the written notice.....and is blowing smoke somewhere.

Here in Texas we have a small claims court that just costs $25.00 to file. I had a friend file against American Airlines because they didn't respond to his lost baggage claim. He won...because the airline caved when they realized that if they didn't show up my friend would get a judgment by default. I betcha if they serve him with papers from small claims court for the financial damages of having to move he might change his mind.
 
A buddy of mine was blessed, and survived a shootout with two perps. They kicked down his door, and fired two shots. He returned fire, hitting one in the leg, with the other unfortunately getting away. The police have investigated, and are not pressing any charges, saying he did the right thing.

The one perp who was still there tried to say he was shot outside, but the police found blood and shells in the apartment to there went his argument.

One day later, his apartment gave him 24 hour notice to leave. When he met with them, they said he needed to control his guests and family according to his lease. Needless to say, his friends and family don't kick down his door, and usually call first. They definately don't shoot at him also.

Ok, two questions.

1) He has been evicted. Does he have any recourse legally against the apartments?
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I believe even if he is in violation of some clause in the lease, he can't be evicted in 24 hrs. The fair housing laws are federal laws and have limits on that kind of thing.

Of course, providing all of the facts were presented here, and your friend had no connection with the both subjects (ie: they didn't come looking to rip off a drug dealer, collect on a drug or other debt, etc, etc) and your friend can provide the lack of connection, he should also be able to prove a lack of security has caused him all sorts of mental and physical stress and anguish. The apartment owner is responsible for providing a safe environment.

Your friend should seek competent legal advice. He'll know if he has a case by talking to a lawyer. But, if there is some connection between the two who broke in and your friend, he loses a lot of crediability.

2) Can this perp go after him in court? My concern is that my buddy may have a difficult time obtaining funds for counsel.
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Anyone can sue anyone else civilly. All it takes is a lawyer willing to file the paperwork. Most lawyers will listen to the story and make a determination if there are sufficient grounds for a suit. If your friend is relatively poor, it's unlikely he will be sued. Lawsuits go after "deep pockets". Now the apartment building owner may be a target!
 
I really appreciate all the responses. My buddy is still a bit shaken, and keeps thinking what would have happened had he not been ready.

By the way, i'm not partial to Glocks, but it saved his life, so i may be changing that opinion. :)

My friend has obtained a legal counsel, that will be going after the apartments for the 24 hour eviction.

Thanks again.
 
1) He has been evicted. Does he have any recourse legally against the apartments?
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May depend on the state.
In most state tenant have right under the law.
My mother used to be a landlord and it took up to three months to evict people for non payment.
The letter he received may very well simply be the first step in eviction proceedings
I going from memory so I may be wrong, but I believe it goes
24 hour notice to comply then a three day notice of intent, then the landlord gets a court order, and finally the sheriff gives a 24 hour notice to vacate.
My memory may be wrong and this in Florida

2) Can this perp go after him in court? My concern is that my buddy may have a difficult time obtaining funds for counsel.
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Depends on the state
Florida's extended Castle Doctrine does not allow for civil suit in cases like this. Colorado may give the same protection for a lawful shooting on your own property under the Make My Day law
 
If his lease did indeed require him to control his guests and he signed it, he can be evicted. Chances are, though, that he is entitled to more than 24 hours by law. He can very likely sue in small claims court for the cost of having to move quickly, which can be expensive.

If your friend lives in Florida, he cannot be sued by the perp. It varies by state, but in Florida it's the law.
 
Odds are the landlord is talking out of his rear end. My family went through an eviction proceeding to get tenants out of a house we were renting. There were months of unpaid rent, vandalism, drunken parties late at night with underage drinkers and police involvement and still it took forever to get them out. This was in New York.

I would suggest your buddy tell the landlord he would be happy to move as soon as possible but 24 hours is completely unreasonable. He expects his security deposit to be properly returned and if everthing is kept polite he would certainly not sue the landlord for the lack of security provided on HIS PROPERTY when his renatl unit was broken into threatenning your friend's life.

The landlord doesn't wnat your friend to stay and for that reason your friend should not want to rent from him. It is just a matter of working out an amicable separation.

Was the eviction an actual court approved notice or just some piece of paper the landlord wrote up (most likely)? Usually to file for a formal eviction the landlord would have to bring something to court and your freind would have to be notified of the court date.
 
If his lease did indeed require him to control his guests and he signed it, he can be evicted.
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Armed home invaders ARE NOT guests in any sense of the word. That is NOT grounds for eviction.

On the other hand if these criminals were associates of your friend there might be something more to the grounds for the eviction. Why was his place chosen? Did these people know him? Had they been there before? These are all pertinent questions.
 
Musketeer posted along the same lines as I was going to. It's EXTREMELY rare for criminals to bust in a door guns blazing. (unless we are talking government sponsered thugs like the BATF) Generally a criminal will target a home that is unoccupied. The fact that they obviously knew that there was someone home and stormed the apartment is highly suspicious. It indicates that the attackers knew the occupant of the home and intentionally targeted that individual.

Still not grounds for a 24 hour eviction..but something that law enforcement should question...
 
It's EXTREMELY rare for criminals to bust in a door guns blazing.
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So that YoMama doesn't take offense, perhaps you should add that while it's extremely rare, it does indeed happen from time to time.
 
Good point....while I find it suspicious..I didn't mean to accuse anybody of anything. Just because a situation looks suspicious...it doesn't mean that the persons involved have done anything wrong.
 
It did in fact happen however. What we think happened is that they didn't think he would put up a struggle. God knows what would have eventually happened, but when they started to kick in his door, he tried to hold it shut. Once he saw that he wasn't keeping them out, he grabbed his gun, racking the slide. This may have set off the perps that he was armed. They definately wanted him bad, and were determined to get him.

Police recovered two nine millimeter bullets from the next apartment over from him shot by the perps, as it went through the wall.

This honestly appears to be a home invasion gone bad quickly.
 
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