I just got served with a Restraining Order.
My wife & I own a nice little home, which has a decent yard, a nice big shop, and a great view of the Cascade Mountains. My neighbors on one side of me are a nice middle age couple who have been in the neighborhood for decades. The house on the other side is a rental. In the two years we've lived here, the rental next door has not been a problem, despite the fact that tenants come and go every 6 months or so.
My wife & I own a nice little home, which has a decent yard, a nice big shop, and a great view of the Cascade Mountains. My neighbors on one side of me are a nice middle age couple who have been in the neighborhood for decades. The house on the other side is a rental. In the two years we've lived here, the rental next door has not been a problem, despite the fact that tenants come and go every 6 months or so.
Then the current tenants moved in at the start of summer, and they've been nothing but bad. From a screaming match the first day they were there that was so bad that my wife & I thought some guy was beating his wife/girlfriend (so we called the cops), to my front gardens being damaged (with a trail of damaged flowers leading to their front door), to a pit bull that was allowed to run free in the alley, to loud noise and talking and music at all hours (despite numerous requests to be quiet), to a parade of people living in the house (folks not on the lease), to trash piling up in the front driveway and garage, to them finally breaking into the large garage on the property that is facing the alley (and is leased separately) and letting friends/family use and live in there and park an RV in front of it so the RV people could live there as well.
To say that I am sick of them is an understatement. Our neighborhood is a quiet place, and they have managed to irritate everyone in earshot. So of course, I spoke with the property manager about telling them to quiet down and play nice. To be honest, they could be serving up child stew to their friends and I wouldn't care as long as I did not have to hear about it every goddamn day! After a number of words from the property manager failed to reach them, I took a picture of the RV, and the trash, and let him know that they had people living in the garage and in the RV and that they were not disposing of waste. This, of course, was the last straw for the property manager, and he served them with eviction papers. Of course, these folks are section 8, so getting rid of them is a bit of a trick, but they'll be gone sooner or later.
The thing is, they decided to slap my wife and I with a restraining order, which I will get served with tonight when I get home (my wife already got her chicken scratch copy). Now I have to hire an attorney (meeting with one on Monday), spend the $1500-$2K to get this quashed, and then sue them for the legal fees (blood from a rock time), because I can not afford to lose my CPL, or have my security clearance threatened, or have my wife have her job threatened (she wants to go back to being a public librarian someday, and something like this will damage that), all over their decision to stall the eviction process by filing these orders (they hit the property manager with one too). Chances are the judge will see this for what it is and kill it, but I can not take that chance, so I have to come at it with a certain amount of overkill.
Anyone out there ever fight a TRO before?
5 attempts at reason:
Damn filthy scum. Of all the low down nasty things to do to somebody...
I've never had to deal with anything of the sort. I know what its like to rely on a clean record to keep maintain your employment though. I doubt it would ever be held against you, but just in case you better attack it quickly.
I hope to hell everything works out for you. I would be steaming mad at this point if I were in your shoes.
I'm mad.
My wife, she is mad on a level that could give Angels pause. She doesn't want to just beat this, she wants to beat it, sue them, and then drag them through the legal and financial mud until their lives are little more than cold, damp piles of ash.
She's like Terry Benedict, except she doesn't own a Casino.
Anyone out there ever fight a TRO before?
Yes. But, sorry, in my case it was not a big deal.
As the opening salvo in our divorce, my then wife fired a TRO. The next week in court we trotted out friends and relations who testified to my sterling character and totally awesome parenting. The judge noted my record in the service, my employment, my utter lack of any problems with the law. Also the blatant lies that she used to justify the TRO.
Then he killed the TRO and we got on with business.
Dress up for court, get a competent lawyer, have the facts on your side - being truthful is a good thing (grin). Oh, and IANAL.
Found this via SayUncle.
IANAL where you live, nor do I have any experience with TROs, but there are usually rules for lawyers to have reasonably investigated facts before filing a complaint in court. If they had a lawyer file the papers, you should ask your attorney what their lawyer's obligations were before filing a TRO. If the obligations are more than minimal, why not pursue him for your costs? He's the one who's enabling bad behavior right?
You might look at http://www.firearmslawyer.net/ -
Mark Knapp posts fairly regularly on the WA-CCW list and often says things that make sense to this lay reader.
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