What is the name of your state? California
My family has lived in our house for 14 years. Almost 2 years ago, some people bought the property next to us and started working on it during the weekends, clearing property to bring in a moblehome. Immediately (the first day) we had problems with their dog harassing us and being on our property. (chasing our cats and digging in our garden etc.)
We kept asking nicely for them to keep their dog away from us, it ended up in a heated argument, in which my husband and I came home and called the sheriff. This was on May 24, 2004.
On June 17th, there was noise, guns, drinking, cussing for 4+ hours (the owner is a 64 year old woman, her 40 year old son lives with her and she has custody of his children that live there as well). we put our kids to bed and hollered for them to keep the noise down. That's when the 40 year old son yelled back, "F-you, mother -f'er.. you blew it last time you called the sheriff on me, now I am coming to take care of you once and for all". That night, the son was arrest for public intoxication and resisting arrest. we filed for a restraining order and got it. They hadn't even moved into the house yet!
Fast forward a few months, and a few more arrests later, the son 40 throwing rocks at my husband (we have pictures) the mother, grandson, grand daughter were all present and yelling threats etc. I was stalked and harassed in the local grocery store by the son.. all these incidence were reported to the sheriff.. and most of the time they even include statements from the neighbors saying that yes they DID do these things.
After much pushing from me, the D.A. was finally able to prosecute the 40 year old and he was sentenced to 90 days. Just got out on Thursday.
Anyway, I want to sue the mother, since she is the property owner, and she has allowed her family members, whom live with her, to violate our civil rights to live peaceably on our property. We have had our house for sale since July 14th, 2004, (10 days after they moved in!) we would never have sold/moved had it not been for these people. They scared me and my family to death. My 5.5 year old daughter has been having accidents since all this happened, and my kids have been in fear of these people.
I have incurred costs to try to sell our house (pretty hard to sell a house that you have to disclose neighbors dogs and civil disputes) And to top it off, she just took US to court last week to try to get a restraining order against US! Sheesh! The judge denied the R.O. and denied our request for her to pay our out of pocket expenses. She had NO evidence that we have ever done anything wrong, that's why she didn't get the R.O.
So my question is, do I have a case against just her, or should I include the son in the case too? He was already ordered by the judge to pay restitution to us as a part of his probation (we had over $1200 in costs to protect ourselves from this guy, and to get the R.O. against him)
I know I can sue her/them for mental & emotional distress, which shouldn't be hard to prove since I have about 12 sheriffs reports that prove everything this person has done to us, any sane person could see how it has effected our lives. I also want to sue for our costs we incurred for her taking us to court on the bogus R.O. claim.
Do I have a case? And do I sue both? And what can I claim?
All advice appreciated. We are still trying to sell our house, and if we ever get buyers that end up closing the deal, (we have had 2 back out already due to the neighbors) then we'll be rid of these idiots for good!
My family has lived in our house for 14 years. Almost 2 years ago, some people bought the property next to us and started working on it during the weekends, clearing property to bring in a moblehome. Immediately (the first day) we had problems with their dog harassing us and being on our property. (chasing our cats and digging in our garden etc.)
We kept asking nicely for them to keep their dog away from us, it ended up in a heated argument, in which my husband and I came home and called the sheriff. This was on May 24, 2004.
On June 17th, there was noise, guns, drinking, cussing for 4+ hours (the owner is a 64 year old woman, her 40 year old son lives with her and she has custody of his children that live there as well). we put our kids to bed and hollered for them to keep the noise down. That's when the 40 year old son yelled back, "F-you, mother -f'er.. you blew it last time you called the sheriff on me, now I am coming to take care of you once and for all". That night, the son was arrest for public intoxication and resisting arrest. we filed for a restraining order and got it. They hadn't even moved into the house yet!
Fast forward a few months, and a few more arrests later, the son 40 throwing rocks at my husband (we have pictures) the mother, grandson, grand daughter were all present and yelling threats etc. I was stalked and harassed in the local grocery store by the son.. all these incidence were reported to the sheriff.. and most of the time they even include statements from the neighbors saying that yes they DID do these things.
After much pushing from me, the D.A. was finally able to prosecute the 40 year old and he was sentenced to 90 days. Just got out on Thursday.
Anyway, I want to sue the mother, since she is the property owner, and she has allowed her family members, whom live with her, to violate our civil rights to live peaceably on our property. We have had our house for sale since July 14th, 2004, (10 days after they moved in!) we would never have sold/moved had it not been for these people. They scared me and my family to death. My 5.5 year old daughter has been having accidents since all this happened, and my kids have been in fear of these people.
I have incurred costs to try to sell our house (pretty hard to sell a house that you have to disclose neighbors dogs and civil disputes) And to top it off, she just took US to court last week to try to get a restraining order against US! Sheesh! The judge denied the R.O. and denied our request for her to pay our out of pocket expenses. She had NO evidence that we have ever done anything wrong, that's why she didn't get the R.O.
So my question is, do I have a case against just her, or should I include the son in the case too? He was already ordered by the judge to pay restitution to us as a part of his probation (we had over $1200 in costs to protect ourselves from this guy, and to get the R.O. against him)
I know I can sue her/them for mental & emotional distress, which shouldn't be hard to prove since I have about 12 sheriffs reports that prove everything this person has done to us, any sane person could see how it has effected our lives. I also want to sue for our costs we incurred for her taking us to court on the bogus R.O. claim.
Do I have a case? And do I sue both? And what can I claim?
All advice appreciated. We are still trying to sell our house, and if we ever get buyers that end up closing the deal, (we have had 2 back out already due to the neighbors) then we'll be rid of these idiots for good!
any advice apprecaited!