Slander by apartment neighbor / lease break

[wolverine32]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I have lived in my apartment complex since November 2009. In May 2010, I adopted a dog from a nearby animal shelter. Part of the adoption policy was that I was required to present a lease. My lease states 35lbs and under, the dog I was getting was going to grow to be 45. The shelter called my leasing office who approved the adoption, and has made exceptions for other large dogs in the past (there is a 90lb dog across the way).

In the past few months we have had a new neighbor move in beside us. Despite never speaking with him or having any incidents, the leasing office is suddenly very concerned with my dogs weight. I also learned that the new neighbor has made false claims to the leasing office of a "vicious dog attack" on his small dogs, which never took place.

As a result of the whole situation the leasing office is forcing us to break our lease and pay a $2500 lease break fee + $250 concession we had on our most recent renewal. They are claiming the lease break is based on the weight of our dog, however we know they have made / are making exceptions to this limit already in the community, and without any behavior issue weighing in on their decision it seems completely unreasonable that they suddenly want us out.

Would I have a decent case for slander against my neighbor to cover the monetary damages of $2750, or maybe moving costs? Or both?

There was no incident, and he would have absolutely no physical proof anything occurred, photos, or even vet bills to back it up. On the other hand, I would be able to get statements from multiple people at the dog park we frequent that would praise the behavior of my dog, as well as a statement from our dog trainer.

 

[sandyclaus]

I don't understand. Why would a new neighbor, that you don't know, have never spoken with, and have had no interactions with, be making a false accusation about your dog to the apartment management? What is their motive for doing this?

Also, the management is not "forcing" you to break your lease. They may have given you the choice of getting rid of the dog or moving out, but the choice was ultimately yours to make. If they have received complaints about the dog, that would validate their position of giving you notice.

It just makes no sense to me why someone would lie to the apartment manager or take any such actions against you without some reason. I don't think we are getting the whole story here. And without the whole story, there really is no way to know whether or not you could win an action against the neighbor for defamation that resulted in the lease break.

 

[The Occultist]

Does their official notice, which I'm sure mentions the question in regards to the weight of your dog, also mention the neighbor's account of the attacks against his dogs? If not, then do not even attempt to bring this point up to anybody.

So, do you actually have any contract signed by the office that outlines their exception to the weight limit in regards to your dog? If you don't have such a contract, then that leaves you very little to stand on.

 

[wolverine32]

I don't understand. Why would a new neighbor, that you don't know, have never spoken with, and have had no interactions with, be making a false accusation about your dog to the apartment management? What is their motive for doing this?

You and me both. I say "never speaking" as in no more than the standard nod, "hi", or "excuse me" in the 2-3 times I have passed him on the stairs.

Also, the management is not "forcing" you to break your lease. They may have given you the choice of getting rid of the dog or moving out, but the choice was ultimately yours to make. If they have received complaints about the dog, that would validate their position of giving you notice.

For us getting rid of the dog would be the same as getting rid of a family member. It's really a non-option. If the issue was strictly size based it would be a totally different story - however at this point this neighbor has gone out of his way to make false claims to put us in bad favor with the leasing office.

It just makes no sense to me why someone would lie to the apartment manager or take any such actions against you without some reason. I don't think we are getting the whole story here. And without the whole story, there really is no way to know whether or not you could win an action against the neighbor for defamation that resulted in the lease break.

Unfortunately there is not much story to tell, which is why we are so confused and considering legal action. Given that our dogs have never bit, attacked, jumped on, or even been outside in the presence of his animals (I don't even know if he has 1 or 2 dogs... that's how little I know about him), I only have 2 guesses as to why he may have some kind of problem with us.

1. Maybe he's just afraid or uncomfortable with large dogs. This seems pretty legitimate but doesn't really explain the fake dog attack claim(s).

2. The day the leasing office contacted me about my dogs, was the same day that an interesting incident occurred. The day prior to the call, our management sent out a blanket notice to everyone in our building about not leaving trash outside their doors, and to take it downstairs instead. I should note we live on the 3rd floor, with no elevators or trash chute, so if you are cleaning or something it isn't really that unreasonable to have a bag outside for a few minutes if you're going to be hauling more downstairs shortly.

However, this new neighbor had, and still has, a habit of leaving their garbage outside their door for prolonged periods of time (12+ hours). Their apartment is located directly at the top of the stairs, and they tend to put their garbage away from their door where it is in the way of everyone else, but themselves. In the past we, and our other neighbors have not made any complaints about it (to my knowledge), and have simply moved the bag back towards their door in an effort to get them to take a hint before bringing the leasing office into things. As you can imagine walking a dog past a 12 hour old rotting garbage bag at the top of the stairs is not a whole lot of fun.

Fast forward back to the day of the call. I opened my door in the morning to take my dog downstairs to go to the bathroom. Surprise. A garbage bag. I walk past, pretty-much ignoring it as usual. Half a flight of stairs down I see the note that was tucked against our doors (not in an envelope, or a door bag) sitting on the ground and slightly water damaged from the day before. It was obvious that it had blown off their door and they had not seen it, as they had their garbage out the next day. That or they just didn't care. Regardless, on my return up the stairs, I picked up the note and placed it on the floor in front of their garbage in the middle of the hallway (the bag was against the opposite wall from their door).

Maybe I'm just in a community with an adult who has the mentality of a grade school student and wanted to "stick it to me" for getting him in trouble, even though I never submitted a single complaint.

Does their official notice, which I'm sure mentions the question in regards to the weight of your dog, also mention the neighbor's account of the attacks against his dogs? If not, then do not even attempt to bring this point up to anybody.

No. Our leasing office is very strict about confidentiality and anonymity and merely stated that an "incident" had occurred. We pressed back a bit trying to figure out what they meant since we knew nothing happened, and they sidestepped the question and started targeting weight.

So, do you actually have any contract signed by the office that outlines their exception to the weight limit in regards to your dog? If you don't have such a contract, then that leaves you very little to stand on.

No. Unfortunately we do not have an addendum to the weight limit restrictions on our lease. The closest thing I have to written approval is the policy of the shelter where I got the dog that very clearly states that if renting, a copy of the lease is required. It is also well documented that the breed of our dog would be 45lbs+ (over the 35lb limit) and on my adoption paperwork states my current address at my apartment community. Simply put, the whole adoption process would not have been able to happen without the consent of the leasing office.

Extra info: our leasing agent who wrote up our renewal lease saw our dog in person around 2 weeks before we signed the renewal lease, and no issues were brought up at that time, or later that day in the leasing office when I spoke to him for a second time. There is a secondary issue regarding frustration of purpose that we are considering pursuing against them as well... but that is for another thread.

As mentioned previously we know they have made, and are making exceptions for larger dogs. We do not believe it is unreasonable for us to think that our initial OK was unsatisfactory, especially after a member of their staff who knew us by name and apartment number and prepared both our leases had seen our dog. As such, we are beginning to believe that there must have been something else attached to the claims (the false dog attack allegations) that forced the leasing offices hand.

Sorry if this is confusing for you to understand, based on the lack of information I have about my neighbors motives, I really don't get it either. I don't even know their names!

 

[wolverine32]

An update to this:

We have been applying for condos in the nearby area and must list our apartment community as resident history. The majority of the condos we are applying for hinge on the submission of pet information to be approved or denied.

It is possible that in requesting information from our current apartment community, we may be denied a place to live because of our neighbors lies about a "dog attack" and false beliefs about the behavior of our dog(s).

If this is the case, and we are denied from multiple properties because of the false statements, would we have a potential case against our neighbor or our apartment company for damages?

 

[quincy]

Anything is possible, I suppose.

 

[dscurlock]

This is what I would do:

1) You seem to be in a spot here. If I was you, consult a real online atty, you can do this by paying a fee, and getting real legal advice.

2) DO NOT PAY ANYTHING!

3) If what you say is true, then hold your ground, let the apartment make their move to evict, this way you will have your say in court. You really having nothing to loose, if the court favors your story, then case closed, if they do not, and favor with the apartment, then you maybe given proper amount of time to get out...

BUT, i would not throw in the towel just because they said so....

hell no, fight for what you believe in...

By all means, when you go to court, make sure you have an atty.

you can bet the apartment will have theirs....

So unless they have any proof of your dog doing what they said your dog done, then I do not
see the court kicking you out, even if your dog weighs 500 pounds at this point, its mute...

I just do not think they are going to want to go to court over a dog's weight without some
type of proof that your dog was dangerous in some form or fashion, but they want you to be scared,
and they want you to back down...dont be afraid to tell them "lets go to court if we have too...."

 

[QueenofEngland]

Several of you are suspicious about why a neighbor would do this without being provoked in some manner. It happens. In fact, I had a neighbor a couple years ago do the same thing. We found out we were the second people in our unit the upstairs neighbors had made the same claims about. The people before us were told to get rid of their dog or to leave, and the management was then questioning if they made an error in giving that ultimatum. The management told us this when the neighbors made a complaint about our dogs and claimed our dogs attacked one of their kids, but then refused to file a police report on a weekend we weren't even in town and had our dogs with us 300 miles away. It was suspicious that the same complaints happened twice from the same people, and both times they didn't get police reports.

Some people just like to cause drama.

 

[The Occultist]

First, you say:

you can do this by paying a fee

And then you say:

2) DO NOT PAY ANYTHING!

Kinda conflicting, yes?

3) If what you say is true, then hold your ground, let the apartment make their move to evict

They already did.

this way you will have your say in court.

Say what? "Your honor, we admit that we broke the terms of our lease, but...have mercy"?

You really having nothing to loose

Except for legal fees that they potentially cannot afford. Even if they win, they will still be out quite a bit of money that they cannot get back.

if the court favors your story, then case closed

Except for that bit about the legal costs.

if they do not, and favor with the apartment, then you maybe given proper amount of time to get out...

They've already been given that.

BUT, i would not throw in the towel just because they said so....

But you would spend large amounts of money in legal fees that you potentially couldn't afford?

hell no, fight for what you believe in...

Not always an option.

By all means, when you go to court, make sure you have an atty.

I agree; if the OP goes to court, they should have legal representation (but keep in mind that's just adding to those aforementioned legal fees).

you can bet the apartment will have theirs....

Good point

So unless they have any proof of your dog doing what they said your dog done, then I do not
see the court kicking you out, even if your dog weighs 500 pounds at this point, its mute...

You are completely incorrect on this point. The official notice states that the size of their dog breaks the terms of their lease, and whether or not their dog truly did anything wrong is largely irrelevant to the notice they've been given.

I just do not think they are going to want to go to court over a dog's weight without some
type of proof that your dog was dangerous in some form or fashion, but they want you to be scared,
and they want you to back down...dont be afraid to tell them "lets go to court if we have too...."

WRONG! The basis of the notice given to the OP has almost nothing to do with the danger of the dog, only that the size of the dog is against the terms of the lease which the OP signed. Your advice is bad; very, very bad.

 

[The Occultist]

Several of you are suspicious about why a neighbor would do this without being provoked in some manner. It happens. In fact, I had a neighbor a couple years ago do the same thing. We found out we were the second people in our unit the upstairs neighbors had made the same claims about. The people before us were told to get rid of their dog or to leave, and the management was then questioning if they made an error in giving that ultimatum. The management told us this when the neighbors made a complaint about our dogs and claimed our dogs attacked one of their kids, but then refused to file a police report on a weekend we weren't even in town and had our dogs with us 300 miles away. It was suspicious that the same complaints happened twice from the same people, and both times they didn't get police reports.

Some people just like to cause drama.

Your post is irrelevant on a legal advice forum.