Anyone that knows me knows I am a collector. Junk to some treasure to me. A mosaic if you will was my things to my heart. Well, last year about this time I broke my arm and was out if work. I got behind three hundred and fifty dollars and the land lord gave me an eviction notice after being there four years in Kenton on fen wick. I went to court and him and I agreed to terms. I give him the money owed and he gives me thirty days to move. On the day I was supposed to pay his manager hung up on me and refused payment. I thought he would be calling me and apologizing but rather he gave me an order of non compliance with the court. I had a certain time to file hearing. But it was within a week. During that week the snow storm hit Portland and I had to walk down town to go to court. When I got there the courthouse was closed and the bailiff or security said come back Monday. On Saturday night the next night I was going to the store and smashed my head into a fire escape that was sagging Down too low and it knocked me in my but where I got a sprained rib, gouge in my forehead and road rash on hand. The non compliance order said I had to be out by Monday. I tried desperately to find help and I couldnt. People have stuff to do I understand that. So Monday I went back to the court house and it was closed again. My hand for some reason was swelling and looking infected so I went to the ER to get it looked at. Because I am immune compromised based in the lung disease I got in 2005 and taking prednisone they kept me over night. The next day I couldnt find a ride home so I walked from Emanuel to my moms in Denver and Lombard. The next morning I borrowed the money for a Ryder truck and went to my place to start loading what I could by my self. When I got there my cat was on the porch and the locks were changed. I had prepared for this and had a place secured to move into. So I went there and started calling every legal aid thing there was to find out what to do. The only one that called me back was legal shield. I looked at there web site and it looked as though they were legit so I went with it. They all said dont worry your land lord cant keep your stuff. Just send us your initial payment and we will hook you up with a Portland Lawer. It took fifteen days or so but then a Lawer called me. He said bring me any paper work or proof you have and we will go from there. I didnt hear anything for two weeks and I started complaining. Legal shields corporate office called me and said sorry then my Lawer called me saying I need a detailed list of the items left behind and what they are worth. My fathers ashes, my mothers paintings was she was a teenager,? How do I put a price on those things. I dont know but I did the best I could and sent it back to him. He drafted a letter to send my landlord that made it look like my landlord had committed a lot of illegal actions. said that the landlord didnt do the right thing when I came to ORS 9 0.420. And that in my landlords abandonment letter he did not appropriately describe damages and that he needed to return my stuff immediately at his cost.when I saw this letter I thought it was fantastic and figured that the landlord would try to make a deal with me. Another couple weeks went by and I complained again about legal shield not letting me know what was going on. They said if we dont get a response from your landlord we are not required to tell you that. But if we do then we will proceed. So I said does that mean you have no response.? And they said yes no response as of this date. Another couple weeks went by. And I complained to LegalShield again about what I should do. They said we are not suing for your stuff anymore but rather the cost of the loss. You are going to have to take them to small claims and if you need help filling out the paperwork bring it by. I said should I do this right away.? He said, you have a year if I was you I would get my ducks in a row. So I waited about eight months have my ducks in a row, and called back legal shield. They said that our relationship was terminated based on an in activityand that I should proceed on my own to small claims. I researched some stuff for another couple months and felt ready and went to a lawyer yesterday to find out how to proceed. The lawyer took one look at the abandonment letter that was sent to me from my landlord and said its too late. Based on this letter your lease agreement says that upon termination of tenancy everything in the apartment is theirs, and that it will be considered abandoned and it could be thrown away or sold. The abandonment letter saidthat they called my name I didnt answer and so the sheriff and the landlord entered the apartment and the whole place was destroyed and there was nothing of any value there.well when it comes to the place been destroyed., I was trying to move out of that apartment I had been in for four years with one arm in 72 hours. So imagine how organized I could be with that sort of deadline. But everything was in boxes and everything was on its way out. Anyone could see this I figured they wrote that so that they could keep things of mine that are valuable, I had cash in the top drawer of my dresser, I had many many antiques, and lots of guitars and laptops and jewelry like I said my fathers ashes my car.I thought all of this time that I was in the right and that justice will prevail. But I believe now that I may have lost it all, and that breaks my heart like you wouldnt believe, and that made my mother cry, and that makes me cry. The reason why I am posting this is because there are a lot of eyes out there and a lot of smart people and maybe I will get lucky and someone can tell me if theres anyway I could get some justice that is fair and equitable. My father always said to medont worry about material stuff its just stuff. I dont think he ever thought he would be among all that stuff.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 19:05:31 +0000