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  1. #1

    Angry Possible Defamation Through a Neighbor's Accusations

    Location: San Diego, California.

    I'm looking for a little help here, thanks in advance for anyone with ideas. I have an interesting situation with my next door neighbor who is about 80 years old. The house I live in is owned by my parents. I have 2 roommates and it's a 3br home. There is a 4-foot high wood fence that is on her property and runs along the property and is about 30-40 years old. The fence is clearly dry-rotted and has visible termite infestation. She loves plants and her yard is filled with every square foot of over-grown plants and trees and is completely unmaintained. The plants are growing over, under and through the fence. One section that runs parallel to our driveway fell over about 3 or 4 years ago due to the age of the fence and plants leaning on it. We have tried to talk with her regarding this situation many times and offered to pay half to fix it. Each time, she has refused and the last time I went to talk to her about 3 months ago, she said she knew it was a problem and would replace the fence on her own. Two weeks ago, my parents received a letter from her attorney claiming that the residents at my house willfully trespassed and "kicked" over the fence. She used to claim that she saw someone knock it over with their car door though. She also claimed in the letter from her attorney that the residents are loud, disrespectful and should be evicted immediately because we are interfering with her right to peace. I didn't even have any roommates in July-August and the 2 roommates I have now haven't even met her. This is a college area near SDSU, but my house has only had 1 police report in the past 5 years for a noise complaint. We do not have parties, do not play loud instruments, and do not make noise in general. She tried to make a police report on Sep. 12, 2007 claiming that I went over and "kicked" down the fence. It turns out, the police arrived on the scene and wouldn't take the report because it's obvious from looking at the fence that it's old and dry-rotted. So she has documented evidence of intentionally slandering myself to a third party and is trying to get my roommates and me evicted. She has also called the county code enforcement and told them there is a police report on me kicking down the fence. The code enforcement guy then called my parents and told them there was a police report, but there isn't. My sister went down to find it and only found that the officers basically laughed at my neighbor when they came out to take a report. Do I have any case to sue her for libel or slander and/or the county for making intentional false accusations?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Possible Defamation Through a Neighbor's Accusations

    How much money have you lost as a result of these accusations - your out-of-pocket damages?

  3. #3

    Default Re: Possible Defamation Through a Neighbor's Accusations

    None yet, but she wants us to pay for her fence.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Possible Defamation Through a Neighbor's Accusations

    Which you're obviously not going to do, right?

    Without any economic damages, you may be able to find a lawyer to take a retainer to bring a lawsuit (I would expect your initial cost to be about $5,000.00), with the expectation that you would lose money on the case.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Possible Defamation Through a Neighbor's Accusations

    No, we aren't going to pay for it, but what about the county making false accusations about the supposed "police report" which is non-existent? They can do that?

  6. #6

    Default Re: Possible Defamation Through a Neighbor's Accusations

    And what about slandering my roommates and trying to get them evicted with no evidence?

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