Can I get sued in civil court if plaintiff is in a different state?
December 10, 2013 2:01 PM Subscribe
1) From what I can tell, a plaintiff can only successfully sue a defendant in another state if the defendant owns land or was in a traffic accident in that state? What if it is not a traffic matter and the defendant does not own land, but technically has an apartment lease (but not residing in said apartment)?
2 If so, what is the likely outcome in court in this situation?
I currently am living in apartment and my lease ends Jan 1 2014. About one month ago I was thinking of moving back to the east coast to be with my family due to health reasons, but wasn't sure about my job situation. I panicked and signed the lease. Four days later I knew I had to move back and immediately informed my landlord. She basically said tough luck, find a sub-letter or pay the rend. She also said she would rent out any available unit before renting mine because I technically would have a lease. Basically, she is being difficult for some reason.
I posted several ads in several places for my apartment and never got a response. As of now she says she hasn't found anyone either. I move out of state in a couple days.
I tried talking to her and coming to some kind of arrangement (ex. keep my security deposit and let me off the hook, keep one months rent, etc). No dice. I talked to an attorney and he sent her a letter, he got one back, blah blah blah.
I am a little stressed. I am changing jobs and do not have money to pay rent in two places. This situation was an honest mistake and did not inconvenience them whatsoever, yet they are determined to give me grief. If I can indeed be served, obviously I will not be flying across the country to go to civil court, so I will lose by default. If they get an extra months rent or whatever concession, that's too bad but I can deal. What I am scared off is my currency perfect credit history being damaged over this stupid matter.
I currently am living in apartment and my lease ends Jan 1 2014. About one month ago I was thinking of moving back to the east coast to be with my family due to health reasons, but wasn't sure about my job situation. I panicked and signed the lease. Four days later I knew I had to move back and immediately informed my landlord. She basically said tough luck, find a sub-letter or pay the rend. She also said she would rent out any available unit before renting mine because I technically would have a lease. Basically, she is being difficult for some reason.
I posted several ads in several places for my apartment and never got a response. As of now she says she hasn't found anyone either. I move out of state in a couple days.
I tried talking to her and coming to some kind of arrangement (ex. keep my security deposit and let me off the hook, keep one months rent, etc). No dice. I talked to an attorney and he sent her a letter, he got one back, blah blah blah.
I am a little stressed. I am changing jobs and do not have money to pay rent in two places. This situation was an honest mistake and did not inconvenience them whatsoever, yet they are determined to give me grief. If I can indeed be served, obviously I will not be flying across the country to go to civil court, so I will lose by default. If they get an extra months rent or whatever concession, that's too bad but I can deal. What I am scared off is my currency perfect credit history being damaged over this stupid matter.
Does your lease say anything about what happens with a breach of contract? I would see if you can find a lawyer who knows the laws of the state you are in in terms of how a renter is protected and find a loop hole if possible.
posted by Jaelma24 at 2:07 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Jaelma24 at 2:07 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Your lease ends in January 2014? That's just next month. You would only have to pay one month of rent there. I'm not understanding the problem. Certainly if you're willing to let her keep the security deposit or one months rent you can just pay the extra month, right?
posted by katypickle at 2:09 PM on December 10, 2013
posted by katypickle at 2:09 PM on December 10, 2013
Response by poster: My lease was going to end at the end of Dec, but I signed I lease renewal and then four days later informed them I had to move out of state so I owe rent for another year until I find a sub-letter.
Also, I do not know what I need to do. If you are referring that I need to just take a major credit hit and also owe them a lot of money I do not have, I would like to know if this will definitely be the outcome of my eviction.
posted by WhitenoisE at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2013
Also, I do not know what I need to do. If you are referring that I need to just take a major credit hit and also owe them a lot of money I do not have, I would like to know if this will definitely be the outcome of my eviction.
posted by WhitenoisE at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2013
I am not your lawyer and this is not legal advice. Get a lawyer in the state where you signed the lease. You may also find that the local tenant's rights group can provide some free advice or make referrals for an attorney.
Just some musings from someone who isn't your lawyer:
Yes you can be sued where the lease is, regardless of where you're living.
Basically, she is being difficult for some reason. No, you promised to pay her 12 months' rent, and she wants her money. There are rules about not "compounding damages"--meaning she would likely have to try to rent the apartment. But given that there are other units, she may be entitled to fill the other units first. A lawyer in that jurisdiction could tell you.
obviously I will not be flying across the country to go to civil court, so I will lose by default. You may not need to appear in person; just send your lawyer.
In all likelihood, you're going to have to pay rent in two places until another tenant can be secured. Have you tried offering more money to get this settled? Like, four months' rent to break the lease right now, and she can rent it out right away?
Again, not legal advice and I'm not your lawyer. Good luck.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Just some musings from someone who isn't your lawyer:
Yes you can be sued where the lease is, regardless of where you're living.
Basically, she is being difficult for some reason. No, you promised to pay her 12 months' rent, and she wants her money. There are rules about not "compounding damages"--meaning she would likely have to try to rent the apartment. But given that there are other units, she may be entitled to fill the other units first. A lawyer in that jurisdiction could tell you.
obviously I will not be flying across the country to go to civil court, so I will lose by default. You may not need to appear in person; just send your lawyer.
In all likelihood, you're going to have to pay rent in two places until another tenant can be secured. Have you tried offering more money to get this settled? Like, four months' rent to break the lease right now, and she can rent it out right away?
Again, not legal advice and I'm not your lawyer. Good luck.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
You reupped the lease for another year starting January 2014 I guess?
Your landlord has a significant incentive not to let you off the hook: a year of rent. I'm not sure why you think they don't. True, the situation if she let you out early would be the same as if you hadn't signed a new lease, but you did.
Either pay her off with more than what you offered already or keep trying to find a subletter. You're probably going to have to cover some of the rent.
posted by supercres at 2:15 PM on December 10, 2013
Your landlord has a significant incentive not to let you off the hook: a year of rent. I'm not sure why you think they don't. True, the situation if she let you out early would be the same as if you hadn't signed a new lease, but you did.
Either pay her off with more than what you offered already or keep trying to find a subletter. You're probably going to have to cover some of the rent.
posted by supercres at 2:15 PM on December 10, 2013
IANAL, IANYL - however, I do work in the court system.
People can and do sue people in other states all of the time. Whether that default judgment would be enforceable or not is another matter entirely. Judgments valid in one state aren't necessarily valid in another state. They could end up with a judgment they can't collect on.
Many attorneys are more than willing to file on something like this because they know that they hit your credit score will take after a judgment is more than enough to make some people just pay up to make it go away.
I would consult with an attorney in your state.
posted by BrianJ at 2:16 PM on December 10, 2013
People can and do sue people in other states all of the time. Whether that default judgment would be enforceable or not is another matter entirely. Judgments valid in one state aren't necessarily valid in another state. They could end up with a judgment they can't collect on.
Many attorneys are more than willing to file on something like this because they know that they hit your credit score will take after a judgment is more than enough to make some people just pay up to make it go away.
I would consult with an attorney in your state.
posted by BrianJ at 2:16 PM on December 10, 2013
Sorry dude, but you are having unreal expectations here. Your landlord isn't be difficult about this and is under obligation to ease up... you signed a lease, and it's your responsibility to ensure rent is paid, either by you or by a new tenant. Don't go to court over this - you will loose.
posted by mrrisotto at 2:17 PM on December 10, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by mrrisotto at 2:17 PM on December 10, 2013 [2 favorites]
That's a really hard situation, and it sucks that she's being unreasonable and unwilling to meet you in the middle. Can you sublet the apartment for less than what you pay? You would have to make up the difference but paying a fraction of the rent is better than the whole thing.
posted by katypickle at 2:21 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by katypickle at 2:21 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Your landlord has a significant incentive not to let you off the hook: a year of rent.
Your current landlord has NO obligation to ease up on this.
I understand this, hence the question. There is a difference between pursuing a legal thing, and doing something nice for someone. Sometimes police give warnings instead of tickets. My hope was she would be understandable about the matter and do to me what she would like done to herself if she was in my situation. I did not break my lease in the middle of it, I broke it two months before it started and four days after signing.That was why I simply referred to her being difficult, not being wrong.
Will now stop threadsitting.
posted by WhitenoisE at 2:23 PM on December 10, 2013
Your current landlord has NO obligation to ease up on this.
I understand this, hence the question. There is a difference between pursuing a legal thing, and doing something nice for someone. Sometimes police give warnings instead of tickets. My hope was she would be understandable about the matter and do to me what she would like done to herself if she was in my situation. I did not break my lease in the middle of it, I broke it two months before it started and four days after signing.That was why I simply referred to her being difficult, not being wrong.
Will now stop threadsitting.
posted by WhitenoisE at 2:23 PM on December 10, 2013
Best answer: I think it is interesting she told you she would a PURPOSELY rent every other available unit before yours - do you have this in writing?
You don't want a sublet situation, you want a new qualified tenant.
Contact rental agencies. Craigslist, do. EVERYTHING in your power to find a new tenant.
Make reasonable arrangements with your landlady to show the unit while you are out of state. Do NOT use a hide-a-key because someone might squat, and then you will still be on the hook for paying the rent.
Yes. Your landlady doesn't have to be such a biatch, but there ya go.
My recommendation to you is to cry/beg/plead for mercy. And make sure you have a reasonable plan for showing the unit.
And have a lawyer to step in if the place stays vacant for 2 months, because that is MORE than a reasonable amount of time to find a decent tenant, you might need an advocate if this all goes south.
Good Luck.
posted by jbenben at 2:27 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
You don't want a sublet situation, you want a new qualified tenant.
Contact rental agencies. Craigslist, do. EVERYTHING in your power to find a new tenant.
Make reasonable arrangements with your landlady to show the unit while you are out of state. Do NOT use a hide-a-key because someone might squat, and then you will still be on the hook for paying the rent.
Yes. Your landlady doesn't have to be such a biatch, but there ya go.
My recommendation to you is to cry/beg/plead for mercy. And make sure you have a reasonable plan for showing the unit.
And have a lawyer to step in if the place stays vacant for 2 months, because that is MORE than a reasonable amount of time to find a decent tenant, you might need an advocate if this all goes south.
Good Luck.
posted by jbenben at 2:27 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: jurisdiction and venue are complex issues people go to law school for and face the nervous-making bar exam on. fortunately, you have another headline issue here...
in landlord-tenant law when a lease is broken, there is a common-law duty on the part of the landlord called "mitigation of damages". this means that the landlord doesn't automatically get another 12 month's rent out of a non-tenant. it means that the landlord has to act reasonably to advertise and fill the space, and the tenant is only liable for the empty time and the costs of filling the space.
if you can get her on the record, like in an e-mail, saying that she would rent out any available unit over yours because you had a lease, that would be evidence of bad faith, and it would give you the upper hand. consult your local tenants' counsel for details.
posted by bruce at 2:35 PM on December 10, 2013 [5 favorites]
in landlord-tenant law when a lease is broken, there is a common-law duty on the part of the landlord called "mitigation of damages". this means that the landlord doesn't automatically get another 12 month's rent out of a non-tenant. it means that the landlord has to act reasonably to advertise and fill the space, and the tenant is only liable for the empty time and the costs of filling the space.
if you can get her on the record, like in an e-mail, saying that she would rent out any available unit over yours because you had a lease, that would be evidence of bad faith, and it would give you the upper hand. consult your local tenants' counsel for details.
posted by bruce at 2:35 PM on December 10, 2013 [5 favorites]
They aren't obligated to direct a new tenant to your unit instead of one they haven't leased yet. It does inconvenience them to have empty units that aren't bringing in income, you aren't going to get anywhere by trying to reason they could forgo renting another unit to rent yours.
From what I can tell, a plaintiff can only successfully sue a defendant in another state if the defendant owns land or was in a traffic accident in that state?
IANAL, but this doesn't even make any sense. If that was the case someone could easily avoid being sued by not buying land or driving. If your lawyer told you that, maybe you should get a different one.
If you paid 1st, last, and deposit it sounds like you were asking for money to be sent back to you. That really doesn't offer anything to the other side in this negotiation at best, and at worst sounds like a bad check scam, which landlords are very wary of. You can try offering a few months rent in exchange for getting out of the lease, but you might have already poisoned the well here -- it really depends what was in those letters, the ones you summarized as "blah blah blah". It might also be a bad idea for you to go back to personal negotiation after having the attorney make contact, that's a question for your attorney to answer.
You aren't the first person to end up with a worse credit score after a bad decision. Learn from this and pay more attention to the legal obligations you are incurring, and learn more about how these things work in general. Time will pass and your credit score will get better.
Reading about landlord/tenant law for the state you signed this lease in might be helpful. Different states word the landlord's obligations for seeking new tenants differently. If you decide to get another attorney, you might want one in the state this happened in.
posted by yohko at 2:36 PM on December 10, 2013
From what I can tell, a plaintiff can only successfully sue a defendant in another state if the defendant owns land or was in a traffic accident in that state?
IANAL, but this doesn't even make any sense. If that was the case someone could easily avoid being sued by not buying land or driving. If your lawyer told you that, maybe you should get a different one.
If you paid 1st, last, and deposit it sounds like you were asking for money to be sent back to you. That really doesn't offer anything to the other side in this negotiation at best, and at worst sounds like a bad check scam, which landlords are very wary of. You can try offering a few months rent in exchange for getting out of the lease, but you might have already poisoned the well here -- it really depends what was in those letters, the ones you summarized as "blah blah blah". It might also be a bad idea for you to go back to personal negotiation after having the attorney make contact, that's a question for your attorney to answer.
You aren't the first person to end up with a worse credit score after a bad decision. Learn from this and pay more attention to the legal obligations you are incurring, and learn more about how these things work in general. Time will pass and your credit score will get better.
Reading about landlord/tenant law for the state you signed this lease in might be helpful. Different states word the landlord's obligations for seeking new tenants differently. If you decide to get another attorney, you might want one in the state this happened in.
posted by yohko at 2:36 PM on December 10, 2013
>Also, I do not know what I need to do.
I should not have been so flip. If you are sued, you need to go back to your lawyer and retain him to answer the lawsuit. You should not allow it to go unanswered, which would result in a default. If you feel that the lawyer is too expensive, at least you should answer the complaint. A paper filed with the court saying "I deny this claim" may well be enough. A lawyer is not required, but is highly recommended.
A defendant in default has no options. A defendant who has answered the complaint has many.
posted by yclipse at 6:53 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
I should not have been so flip. If you are sued, you need to go back to your lawyer and retain him to answer the lawsuit. You should not allow it to go unanswered, which would result in a default. If you feel that the lawyer is too expensive, at least you should answer the complaint. A paper filed with the court saying "I deny this claim" may well be enough. A lawyer is not required, but is highly recommended.
A defendant in default has no options. A defendant who has answered the complaint has many.
posted by yclipse at 6:53 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You should contact a local tenant's rights organization. Don't listen to what is said here. Although some comments on long-arm statutes and personal jurisdiction are likely true for your state, you can't rely 100% on them and you need help. I am not your lawyer, I am only advising you to seek low-cost or pro bono legal advice in your jurisdiction. This is not legal advice.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:24 AM on December 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Ironmouth at 2:24 AM on December 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
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You are talking about personal jurisdiction. A court in a distant state can have jurisdiction over you only if you have the required "minimum contacts" with that state. Signing the lease is enough.
posted by yclipse at 2:05 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]