Help with an unlawful detainer

[redeemed2]

This is my first post but I have been reading for months. Please help.

How do I vacate a judgement that went to court. The story is I lived in a rental and there were lots of maintenance problems, I deducted on my own after 6 months of being told they would be credited. We went to court, I lost. The management company brought in letters saying that I refused to let there maintenance people in and the judge slam dunked me. Anyway it is 2 years old. It is off most of my credit reports but I would like to remove it altogether. Any suggestions on where to start? Thanks....

[jeffmar10]

Originally Posted by redeemed2

This is my first post but I have been reading for months. Please help.

How do I vacate a judgement that went to court. The story is I lived in a rental and there were lots of maintenance problems, I deducted on my own after 6 months of being told they would be credited. We went to court, I lost. The management company brought in letters saying that I refused to let there maintenance people in and the judge slam dunked me. Anyway it is 2 years old. It is off most of my credit reports but I would like to remove it altogether. Any suggestions on where to start? Thanks....

I'm not to sure I get the gist of your statement. Some states allow repairs to be abated from your rent, but you'll have to look up that for your state. Was the agreement verbal or written? Was the management company in appearance, or represented by an attorney? Letters from whom? Were they letters you wrote, or were they from maintenance?
Who was the person who entered them into the record of the court? Where they in appearance?
If you are not sure get a copy of the case file.
Depending on who did what, when, and where, you might think about a void judgement.
This is not legal advise, just an avenue for your mind.

[Ice]

There is always the possibility of a judgment being void.

But what, exactly, is it that you want to do? More information would help us.

Ice

[redeemed2]

Thank you for the advice, I will try to get copies of the entire file.

I want to vacate or void this judgement so it doesn't come back to haunt me later. The management company was represented by an attorney. The attorney only does evictions so he had home court advantage. The attorney was actually about an hour and a half late but the clerk moved our case back to accomodate him. I know that wouldn't of happened had I been late. I made the deductions without noticing them before I did it. We got into an argument over the repairs not being done and I just did it without providing written notice.

What is a Judge pro tem?

This is a quote from the minute order.

Parties advised re:Commissioner/Attorney Pro Tem; No objection raised. Failure to object is deemed a stipulation to Commissioner/Attorney Pro Tem sitting as Judge Pro Tem.

Does that mean it wasn't a real judge?

[Ice]

Yep. But you agreed to allow him to hear and rule on the case by not making an objection to a pro tem. If you had made the objection... it would have been rescheduled.

Now that's a good piece of info for the members to have. Remember this one guys and girls.

Ice

[redeemed2]

I knew this was fishy. The pro tem judge is an eviction attorney. I was certainly never advised that he was not a regular judge. We were sitting around for an hour and a half waiting for their attorney to show up. He refused to listen to any thing I said and told me that I didn't respond properly in my answer to the court so he basically ruled against me on procedures.

[Ice]

But, are you bound to procedures? Remember that there is some slack for "pro se". Why not attempt the "void" strategy. Don't hurry through the docs, take your time and make sure you have clearly articulated your position.

Take it from me, they don't like to read your docs and overlook even the easy and readily seen points. In my experience I have noticed there is no enthusiasm on the part of judges to abide by their oath -- which demands they protect and defend your rights which, when done, results in fulfilling their oath to protect and defend the constitution.

Ice