SunnyCyndi
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Maryland
I'm sorry the last post was so long. I was trying to tell the whole story. Anyway, as advised by members, here is the much shortened version. If you want full details, they are already posted.
Basically, my husband and I live next door to my husband's best friend. Behind us is a couple that I have never actually met that have taken issue with our friend's motion sensor light. They have sent inspector after inspector out to our homes to inspect sheds that are within code and have not gotten anywhere with it. The real issue is that the light they are taking issue with is attached to our friend's shed. I guess they figure, get rid of the shed and the light goes with it. They have posted a homemade sign with an arrow pointed to our homes saying "Housing Code Violations. Call Town", and that is a completely untrue statment. So now they have decided to sue us - Myself, my husband, my husband's best friend and his wife for a total of 4 million dollars. They are bringing up the men shooting at birds with pellet guns over 2 years ago as a reason for "Infliction of Emotional Distress" and the light (that does not belong to me and my husband) as "Invasion of Privacy".
All 3 of the other people being sued (including my husband) are mentioned in the complaint with a specific action. I, however, am not mentioned even once in the entire complaint except that I am listed as a defendant. Our friends are being covered by their homeowner's insurance, while mine and my husband's is refusing to cover us so we are retaining representation on our own.
So, my questions are these - to any lawyers out there -
1. Would you call this a "frivulous lawsuit"?
2. What are the chances that I can be completely removed from this since I had nothing to do with the birds and the light does not belong to me and my husband.
3. If this case is dismissed by a court or we actually get all the way to a trial (by the way - they have already requested a jury trial) and we win, can we make them pay our lawyer fees?
4. Should my homeowner's insurance be covering this as well, based on the fact that "emotional distress" could be considered bodily injury?
5. My husband wants to countersue for harassment and defamation of character (we are already being treated differently by people in town).
6. We also received Interrogatories in the mail for my husband to respond to. Can they just ask whatever they want? I don't see the relevance in a few items. Such as, they want to know our reported income on our taxes for the last 6 years, they actually are requesting copies of our tax returns, they want to know how much we bought our home for and how much equity is currently in it, our children's full names and SSNs, etc.
I'm sorry the last post was so long. I was trying to tell the whole story. Anyway, as advised by members, here is the much shortened version. If you want full details, they are already posted.
Basically, my husband and I live next door to my husband's best friend. Behind us is a couple that I have never actually met that have taken issue with our friend's motion sensor light. They have sent inspector after inspector out to our homes to inspect sheds that are within code and have not gotten anywhere with it. The real issue is that the light they are taking issue with is attached to our friend's shed. I guess they figure, get rid of the shed and the light goes with it. They have posted a homemade sign with an arrow pointed to our homes saying "Housing Code Violations. Call Town", and that is a completely untrue statment. So now they have decided to sue us - Myself, my husband, my husband's best friend and his wife for a total of 4 million dollars. They are bringing up the men shooting at birds with pellet guns over 2 years ago as a reason for "Infliction of Emotional Distress" and the light (that does not belong to me and my husband) as "Invasion of Privacy".
All 3 of the other people being sued (including my husband) are mentioned in the complaint with a specific action. I, however, am not mentioned even once in the entire complaint except that I am listed as a defendant. Our friends are being covered by their homeowner's insurance, while mine and my husband's is refusing to cover us so we are retaining representation on our own.
So, my questions are these - to any lawyers out there -
1. Would you call this a "frivulous lawsuit"?
2. What are the chances that I can be completely removed from this since I had nothing to do with the birds and the light does not belong to me and my husband.
3. If this case is dismissed by a court or we actually get all the way to a trial (by the way - they have already requested a jury trial) and we win, can we make them pay our lawyer fees?
4. Should my homeowner's insurance be covering this as well, based on the fact that "emotional distress" could be considered bodily injury?
5. My husband wants to countersue for harassment and defamation of character (we are already being treated differently by people in town).
6. We also received Interrogatories in the mail for my husband to respond to. Can they just ask whatever they want? I don't see the relevance in a few items. Such as, they want to know our reported income on our taxes for the last 6 years, they actually are requesting copies of our tax returns, they want to know how much we bought our home for and how much equity is currently in it, our children's full names and SSNs, etc.