Abuse of Process or Malicious Prosecution??

[tallguy201]

Illinois

I have an interesting dilemna to say the least and will start at the beginning.

I own a business and attempted to help an employee in a landlord dispute.

My employee has a judgement against her for $4,600.00. I called the landlord and asked what he wanted to do in order to settle this.
He stated he wanted to settle this fairly and the only thing he wanted was $1,200.00 for their last months rent and then $800.00 and then he would issue a satisfaction and release for this case.
Of course after writing the checks he denied all of this and proceeded with wage garnishment proceedings.
My employee filed a motion as the $2,000.00 was not accounted for in the wage garnishment paperwork. The motion was denied.
The landlord then filed a motion naming me, my company and my employee claiming falsification on the motion filed by my employee and looking for sanctions in excess of $10,000.00 (mostly from me and my company).
My employee quit her position a week prior to the court date, however we all showed up for court and my attorney got the motion dismissed as my company nor myself are even defendants in this case.
The landlord is now appealing the dismissal of the motion claiming my company should pay all of the garnishment and sanctions and listing my company and myself as Defendants-appellees in the Notice of Appeal.
This guy is harassing me and my company with absolutely no legal standing. This is beginning to cost a great deal of time and money to defend.
To top it all off he has also filed a small claims case for $10,000.00 claiming I conspired with the previous tenants as well as with new tenants to cause damage to his property. From what I understand toxic mold was found in the dwelling 4 months after my employee moved out of the dwelling. I was at this dwelling once to do a final inspection and the landlord was also there.

This guy is basically a greedy slumlord that does nothing to take care of his own property and has filed over a dozen suits over the last 12 years against people that cannot defend themselves.

How can I stop this nut job from harassing me???What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[tallguy201]

Guess I wasted time here

Lot's of views yet no replies....

 

[Zigner]

Lot's of views yet no replies....

Well...in that case.

I guess you have learned a valuable lesson about minding one's own business.

 

[tallguy201]

Great Advice

Guess your a REAL LAWYER TYPE..

Now I know why you didn't respond earlier, you have nothing to say.

When I asked about responses I was looking for a little help as to how to get this guy to stop his shananigans.

If I was looking for a worthless remark I wouldn't have posted on this website.

 

[tranquility]

As your attorney probably told you, an element of malicious prosecution (there is no abuse of process in your facts) is you must have a final decision in your favor. Since you don't have that yet, I suggest you win the appeal and the small claims court actions and *then* consider if the other party had cause to initiate them.

But, malicious prosecution lawsuits are rare and winning them even more rare. In the future, you might follow Zinger's advice.

 

[tallguy201]

Thank You For Your Response

I appreciate the honest reply.

I have no doubt as to winning the lawsuits. They are both utterly rediculious and as stated before in one of them I'm not even a defendant.

Trust me I have learned a lesson from this however it does not mean I will never help another person, I will just be much more careful in doing so in the future.
My intention is to stop this person from annoying me and hopefully others with his vexatious lawsuits.
Any suggestions for help towards that goal would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tranquility]

My intention is to stop this person from annoying me and hopefully others with his vexatious lawsuits.
Any suggestions for help towards that goal would be greatly appreciated.

1. Win.
2. Assess his reasonings for bringing you into the suits and if he has enough cause to prevent a jury from finding he included you *solely* for harrassment purposes.
3. Assess your damages and if the cost of a suit will override any settlement/judgment you might get.
4. After #1 is done and #2 and #3 are determined in your favor, initiate a lawsuit against the person for malicious prosecution. Do it in regular, not small claims, and ask for an injunction against him for being a vexatious litigant. While you won't win the motion for an injunction, you might get the judge to speak harshly to the guy warning him to knock it off. (If things are truly malicious. There are two sides to facts and I am not outraged as yet.)

 

[tallguy201]

Thanks for the Advice

I certainly appreciate the comments.

It now looks like this nutball is attempting to get the second suit out of small claims court with 7 defendants and myself being named as masterminding damage to his property.
I was only on this property once and spoke to the new tenants that day and then once thereafter after receiving the initial small claims paperwork.
Apparently mold was found on the property be the new tenants about 2-3 months after old tenants moved out. New Tenants could not get him to do anything so they called in the Health Dept and moved out.
Don't know if the property has been leased to anyone else and don't really care.
I'll see what he is suing for on the 21st ad file a motion for particulars as he is naming 7 defendants.