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Nightmare LL/T Court Hearing

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Nightmare LL/T Court Hearing

Postby qwerty » Wed Oct 08, 2003 2:30 pm

I had a holdover trial yesterday.

My lawyer didn't show up, so I had to represent myself.
I tried to argue that I hadn't been served notice properly because the "conspicuous placement" was in a common hallway which my landlord does not keep lit, and the paper (which i saw about 2 weeks after is was supposedly placed there) would easily have been disturbed by my landlord's and his worker's regular (illegal) entrances into my apartment, and in fact got buried by the mail and flyers which regularly arrive for my landlord's other former tenants. (The mailed notices arrived two weeks before the vacate date). No success there.
Landlord and his attorney gave their testimony, and I began to give mine. I'd barely gotten anywhere when my lawyer came in. He explained that he'd been held up in supreme court, and began to speak for me. The judge told him "We've already covered all that." a little more conversation ensued regarding previous negotiations, and the judge announced her judgment. She claimed she would not give me the full six months because I X and Y, which she repeated several times. X and Y were factually false and completely bizarre interpretations of the testimony I'd manage to give. When I finally corrected X, she took it under advisement. In the middle of correcting Y, i looked up to see her engaged in conversation with someone near her, and not listening at all. And of course, she did not change her ruling -- and I never got to present my testimony, including my history with the landlord, or my current health, side effects of my medications, and letters from three doctors regarding my seriously diminished strength, and health problems.

I was told later by someone else that in unregulated, no-lease hold-over situations, a judge is not obligated to hear any testimony from the respondent. Is this true?

It makes no sense to me that it would be legal to adjudicate after hearing only one side's full testimony.

<small>[ October 08, 2003, 02:48 PM: Message edited by: qwerty ]</small>
qwerty
 
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