Hart v. Scott

90 So. 3d 30, 2012 WL 723937, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 300
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 7, 2012
DocketNo. 47,012-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 90 So. 3d 30 (Hart v. Scott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hart v. Scott, 90 So. 3d 30, 2012 WL 723937, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 300 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

DREW, J.

_]jFrom a judgment rejecting her demands for damages against the landlord which had evicted her, Mary Hart appealed.

Hart sued in proper person in 2011 to recover her deposit, her moving expenses, and her damages for pain and suffering, all based upon allegations that:

The landlord’s submission of a negative credit report prevented her from being able to rent another residence to house her children, which inability resulted in her mother getting custody of the ehil-dren, further resulting in Hart having to pay child support to her mother.

Correspondence in the record showed documentation of Hart’s debt amounting to $1,544.69 was reported to Experian.

This dispute was the subject of an earlier judgment of eviction dated January 19, 2010, from which plaintiff did not appeal.1

For the following reasons, the judgment rejecting her claim for damages is affirmed.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The lease signed by Mary Hart and Shaun Natt (Hart’s boyfriend) reveals that they rented the apartment on a month-to-month basis beginning October 21, 2009, for $585.00 per month. The lessor was Sig Masur & Sons, Inc. d/b/a Masur-Dean Properties. Jonna2 Scott, Masur-Dean’s property manager, conducted the transaction with Hart and Natt. The rent was due on the first of each month.

12After Hart, Natt, and four of her children moved into the Masur-Dean apartment in late October 2009, the property manager, Scott, sent Hart and Natt a letter dated November 19, 2009, stating that complaints had been made about her children playing on the stairs while waiting for the school bus. The lease prohibited anyone from playing or hanging out on the stairs at any time. The lessees were instructed that they were required to wait for the bus with the children either inside the apartment or outside. Additionally, the property manager received complaints that more children lived in the apartment [32]*32than were listed on the lease applications, another violation. Lessees were asked to come in to discuss the issue. At that meeting, Hart stated that Scott told her she had to vacate the apartment.

On December 1, 2009, Scott sent Hart and Natt a letter stating they had previously been asked to vacate the apartment by November 30, 2009. Failure to turn in the keys by the next morning would result in commencement of eviction.

On December 2, 2009, the Monroe City Marshal delivered an eviction notice to Natt, Hart, and all other occupants directing them to vacate the apartment in five days, with failure to vacate resulting in eviction proceedings against them. Nonetheless, attorneys for the parties attempted to resolve the dispute amicably.

On December 18, 2009, the property manager sent Hart and Natt a letter instructing them to provide the names and ages of all children residing in the apartment. The manager noted that moving additional persons into the apartment was a clear violation of the lease. The lessees were given |suntil December 21, 2009, to supply to the property management the names and ages of the children residing in Hart’s apartment along with custody documentation for those children. Hart was informed that a failure to respond timely would result in the setting of a court hearing on the lease violation.

Even then, through attorneys representing Masur-Dean and Hart, an effort was made to resolve the dispute. However, a proposed settlement dated January 6, 2010, was never executed. On January 11, 2010, the rule of eviction was filed in the Monroe City Court and the matter was set for hearing on January 19, 2010, the date on which the judgment evicting Hart and Natt was signed.

On February 25, 2011, Mary Hart sued the property manager, Scott, seeking damages resulting from a credit report of the eviction that was made to Experian. Hart sought $2,000 in pain and suffering because she allegedly could not rent another apartment due to the credit report and because she was required to pay child support to her mother. Additionally, Hart sought moving expenses and a return of her deposit on the apartment.

In its answer and reconventional demand, Masur-Dean asserted that Jonna Scott (Becton, at the time of trial) was its employee. Masur-Dean stated that Hart and Natt leased the apartment and failed to pay rent for December 2009 and January 2010 totaling $1,170.00. Additionally, Masur-Dean asked for $125.00, the amount of the costs in the eviction suit, along with $249.69 in attorney’s fees under La. R.S. 9:3259. Answering, Hart |4asserted that her rent was due on the fifth and that she paid it on the second of the month.

Witnesses at the trial on May 18, 2011, were Hart and Scott. The matter was taken under advisement. The judgment containing reasons rejecting Hart’s monetary demands was signed and filed on July 7, 2011. Hart then appealed.

TESTIMONY

Hart testified she and her children resided with her husband in Winnsboro until 2009, when the couple separated. She and the children then moved into her mother’s home in Winnsboro. At the end of October 2009, Hart and four of her children (ages 9, 8, 7, and 5) along with her boyfriend, Natt, moved into the Masur-Dean apartment. Due to complaints about her children, Hart was informed by Scott on November 20 that she had to vacate the apartment. Eviction proceedings commenced in December culminating in the [33]*33January 19, 2010, eviction judgment. The maintenance man from the Masur-Dean apartment informed Hart that she had missed court and had to remove her things from the apartment.

Hart testified that she paid her deposit and rent for November 2009 after which she received the letter (dated November 19, 2009) from Masur-Dean with the complaints about her children. Stating she had seven children (at that time), Hart testified she had four school-age children residing with her. The lease applications in the record listed three children as occupants. On December 2, Hart received the eviction notice which the | ¿Monroe City Marshal placed upon her door. Hart’s attempts to pay the rent thereafter were rejected by Scott, since the eviction process had begun.

Hart’s testimony was that she had missed the January 19 court date because she had misplaced the papers and did not remember to attend court. In later testimony, she stated transportation issues prevented her from attending court.

When Hart vacated the premises, she and the children resided briefly at her mother’s house. However, the two women could not get along and her mother informed Hart she could not live there. Hart signed custody of the children back over to her mother. Subsequently, Hart was ordered to pay child support. At trial, Hart’s mother had custody of six of Hart’s eight children. When the “child support people” learned Hart no longer resided with her mother, she was required to pay $288.75 per month beginning in October 2010 as child support for the children in her mother’s custody.

According to Hart, she tried to rent another apartment months later and learned that information about the “broken lease” had been placed upon her credit report, making her ineligible to obtain another apartment.

On cross-examination, Hart acknowledged the lease was on a month-to-month basis and that the lessor had the right to terminate the month-to-month lease 10 days before the end of the month.

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Related

Bryan v. Griggs
128 So. 3d 1255 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
90 So. 3d 30, 2012 WL 723937, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hart-v-scott-lactapp-2012.