Landlord Evicts Victim Of Murder Attempt

[Guest]

http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/4674747/detail.html

Snip:

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. -- A North Carolina woman has a new problem, after surviving six gunshot wounds and a jump from her second-story balcony to escape the man trying to kill her.

Now, she's being evicted from her apartment.

Dorothea Thomas was attacked last Friday. She got out of the hospital on Tuesday. On Wednesday, she found a notice on her front door, ordering her to leave.

The former Marine and police officer was served with an eviction notice for, among other things, being too loud.

[Guest]

I think this is the relevant portion:

"In this case the victim was attacked by someone with whom she had an ongoing relationship and had invited onto our property,"

One could infer that the victim has a habit of bringing lowlifes into the building and that it came to head with the murder attempt. Without more information its really impossible to say if its a good call or not. While i do empathize with anyone who has been the victim of violence, the reality is that a whole lot of said victims arent the shiniest examples of our society.

[Guest]

http://www.jdnews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=33144&Section=News

Burks and Thomas worked together. He was a corrections officer and she was a case manager at the state Department of Corrections in Burgaw. They dated for two years, but she broke off the relationship three months ago.

Burks showed up at her apartment, off Gum Branch Road, around 7:30 p.m. June 24. He is accused of pulling out a .45-caliber handgun. She jumped off her balcony to get away from him, and he allegedly shot her outside the apartment while other residents looked on.

.....
According to the lease, Thomas and her guests cannot disturb or "threaten the rights, comfort, health, safety or convenience of others (including agents and employees) in or near the apartment community, disrupting our business operations."

[Ron]

I think if you own a piece of property you have should be able to rent it or not rent to whoever you want.

[K Frame]

So much for the stopping power of the vaunted .45!

[matis]

I see at least 2 separate issues in this story:  First, regardless of anything else, this woman is to be congratulated for her presence of mind and for not wasting her Marines' and Police training.  She did whatever she had to to get away from the shooter -- even to the extent of jumping off a 2nd story balcony!  She'd likely be dead had she not done so.

But 2nd, although we cannot know from the article whether she attracted or was herself a lowlife -- the landlord was still justified in evicting her.

Landlords, today,  are sued for just about anything.  He is responsible if his tenant is assaulted in the hall because he didn't a) secure the hall, b) the light bulb was burned out or missing (probably taken by tenants' kids), c) didn't adequately check the background of tenants -- and on and on unendingly.

So now that the landlord knows that this tenant has attracted gun-fire to his property -- if it happens again, he can be sued for not taking adequate steps to foreclose the possibility.

So if the landlord decided that evicting her was his best move, I certainly don't blame him for doing so.

Don't get mad at the landlord.  Get mad at the lawyers who go after anyone with deep pockets or insurance.  And get mad at the increasing proportion of citizens who see suing someone as a version of playing the lotto.

matis