- Ethel, her husband, her mother, and her two
children had been living quietly in a small building
paying rent to the owner. Then, the owner sold the
building and the first words out of the mouth of the
new owner to Ethel were: "Get out of my building."
The new owner refused to accept any future rent
payments from Ethel. He served her with an eviction
notice and then filed a lawsuit to evict her. Ethel
came to the ITU for help and ITU handed the case
over to an attorney who specializes in representing
tenants in eviction court. Ethel won in court!
The landlord served her with a second eviction
notice. This time he had the Chicago Police serve
the notice and threatened to have Ethel arrested if
she did not accept the notice. The landlord filed a
second lawsuit. This time Ethel's attorney filed
counterclaims amounting to eight months' rent plus
attorney's fees against the landlord for various
violations of the law.
The second lawsuit ended with a negotiated
settlement. Ethel agreed to drop her counterclaims
against the landlord. The landlord dropped all his
claims against Ethel for rent. Ethel agreed to move
out, after not having paid rent in 9 months!
- The granddaddy of them all is a case which went
on for 5 years! A multi-millionaire landlord filed a
lawsuit to evict John because John began paying
reduced rent. The landlord had failed to make
$3,000,000 of required repairs to the high-rise
building. The landlord admitted this failure to the
judge in Housing Court. The landlord spent $65,000
on lawyers’ fees trying to evict John, but the
tenant's lawyer won the case and kept him in the
apartment.
If you have any
questions or would like more information, or to discuss your
rights please contact us (773) 478-1133,
email us, or use our
online
request form. |
