Help! Issue serving summons to Landlord as he lives in another country!

[tenant2009]

While you are allowed to go pro-se in SCC, the judges are loathe to allow you to proceed, especially so when the "other side" has an attorney. Those judges realize that "pre-se" can quickly get into dangerous waters and want to avoid appeals down the road.

Thanks Rowz, what do you mean by "loathe" , can you clarify this point?

 

[Mrs. D]

I think what rowz is getting at is that most people who go pro-se in just about anything haven't the faintest idea what they're doing, and often waste everyone's time and/or the case ends up appealed. In order to get things right the first time, the judges probably try to forcefully persuade the non-represented party to get a lawyer. For a typical small claim, a lawyer is usually seen as unnecessary (honestly, when we went to court, non-deadbeat roommate and I - and the magistrate, of course - were the only ones in suits), but with such a large claim it might be advisable. Just remember that you can claim reasonable legal fees...so shop around and make sure that the lawyer you retain is reasonable.

 

[rowz]

loathe = to have a strong dislike. [my own definition.]

Mrs. D summed it up pretty well.

Its work to go pro se & I spent plenty of time and effort in laying a foundation for each proceeding. Stop communicating via email, and start ding it ONLY via Certified Mail w/RRR. This will establish a paper trail that cannot be denied.

Start by sending the landlord a demand letter requesting the $ that you are due. Include a drop dead date, say 10 business days from the date of receipt for a reply. If your Certified mailings come back unclaimed keep the UNOPENED letter for Court. For Court you will want to have at least 5 or 6 copies of everything. one for you, one for your lawyer, one for the LL & HIS lawyer and one each for the judge and his clerk.

Even if you do win, you will be granted a judgement....and thats a different ball of wax when it comes to collecting such. Thats why there are constables...they are the one [at least in our vicinage] that do the collecting.

Make sure in your petition that you will want, in addition to legal fees and costs of service the costs [if any] of collection. [the constable, they get about 10%


Good luck

BTW - Something I feel is important to start. Besdies STOPPING the emails communication, once you have determined where the landlord is, from now on, send ALL communications via Certified Mail with Return Receipt. Even to India.
Maybe you could discern the name and address of the company that he is working for and send a letter to him care of the company...perhaps even with just a name of the company you could try and find them in India perhaps thru Thomas' Register [for the name of the AMerican branch] and try and locate them on the Fedex or DHL website once you have their name. DHL does alot of international courier work. Its worth a try