Evictions to Collections
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Evictions to Collections
Hello, I recently was evicted out of my apartment at the end of August. The landlord tried to get a judgement on me for bedbug treatment for 2 units and make me responsible for the charges for my unit and my neighbors unit, the judge declined the landlord the Judgement for the bedbug treatment. I just received my move out notice and it states I have a ledger balance of 3,087.00 which was the cost of the bedbug treatment in the summons they took to court. This was dropped in court can they threaten to send me to collections for this amount when a judge denied them to collect that balance from me?
Asked on October 2, 2017 under Real Estate Law, Arizona
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
In which court, in what kind of case was it dropped? If it was dropped in the landlord-tenant eviction case, not in a lawsuit for the money, they can still go after it: judgments in landlord-tenant cases are generally not binding or "res judicata" on monetary claims, because all landlord-tenant is concerned with is who gets the apartment or home. In this case, they can pursue you for the money, but to force you to pay, they or their collection agency would have to sue and prove in court you were at fault or responsible for the infestation in some way (or at least contributed to its severity, such as by not obeying exterminator instructions).
If the court that already threw out this claims was other than a landlord-tenant court in an eviction matter, however, then they should be barred from pursuing it by res judicata, the doctrine that does not let you re-litigate something you already had the chance to litigate.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.