Judgement against a friend

[gris59]

We live in Florida and a friend was sued by her landlord for damages to an apartment.There were no damages and the judge ruled in favor of the landlord but only for the remainder of the lease not damages.

Why should she pay for the remainder of the lease when she was being evicted and her name was not on the new lease just her mother's? Should she appeal the judge's decision?

 

[HomeGuru]

No, tell her to abide by the courts decision because the judge made a correct ruling. It does not matter if her name was on the lease because she was still considered a legal tenant due to her occupancy.

 

[JETX]

I find your post rather interesting.... in one place you say that your "friend was sued by HER landlord" (my emphasis) yet, later you say that her name wasn't on the lease (it was her mothers). You don't say whether she was a tenant or her mother or both.

In any case, if her name was not on the lease, then the judge MAY have erred in making her a 'responsible party'. I believe that there was something else presented at the trial that convinced the judge (or jury) that she was in fact responsible. And your post saying that she was not found responsible for damages, but the unpaid lease term further shows that the court felt that she was responsible for the lease.

Finally, you ask about 'appealing' the judgment. Generally, this is not a task for a 'layperson' to do and should be done only with an attorney. With that in mind, the real question becomes a personal question... "Which is the lesser of the two... paying a lot of bucks (and time) to an attorney in an ATTEMPT to appeal or paying the judgment???"

And, if you decide to pay out the lease, was the landlord able to lease the unit before the lease end and was that new lease factored into the amount awarded??