I was contacted by my landlord last week asking why I had stop-payment on three rent checks (my property and my boyfriend's next door). I explained to her that these were automatic payments out of my checking account and that I would not have been able to stop payments. These payments were from June and July 2005 and she contacted me at the end of October. I contacted the bank asking about her claims of stop-payment (she claimed my bank told her they were stopped) and the bank agreed with me that I could not have stopped payment after 5 p.m. EST on the day they were sent out (now four months prior). The bank further explained that the checks had stale-dated because they were not cashed within the 90 day requirement that is listed on the check. After further research, I discovered that she had cashed all of the rent checks for June - October on October 27th and those three, obviously, wouldn't go through because they were too old.
She is now claiming that she will serve me eviction notice if that money is not received within 10 days ($2000 worth). Further, I will then have five days to evacuate and if the money is not paid, she will take me to court and I will pay her there along with her legal fees, etc. I've explained to her that although the money was returned to my account since the checks were stale-dated, I don't have that kind of money. She has turned very ugly on my cell phone answering machine, treating me as a kind of person who doesn't pay my bills, etc., even though she has had every rent check for my entire lease time on time. She also insists that I will pay her bank fees for the checks not clearing.
Part of me feels that it's her own fault she doesn't have the money -- I liken it to a rebate check or money order that is lost or not cashed in time -- you don't get that money back. The rest of me wants to do what is right by her, but I don't have the money and am afraid she will pursue the eviction. Do I have any legal rights here? She can't claim that I didn't pay the rent when I have bank printouts showing the check number and date the money was taken out of my account. She has decided to stick to the claim of stop-payment.
I appreciate any advice you can give me. Thank you.

