QUESTION
How do I represent in court a civil matter? Should I get an attorney?
Asked on Aug 28th, 2018 on Civil Litigation - Virginia
More details to this question:
Heating unit broke down in rented condominium. landlord accused me of bending the vents which interrupted airflow and asked me to pay for a new unit at a cost of $3500.00. I have shared custody of my children and they visit me regularly; at the time, it was winter and I need the condo to be warm so I agreed to pay $50/month. I gave notice to leave condo at end of lease in October. I am now being summoned to court to pay a total of $3,362.03. I have been paying an extra $50/month for the new heating unit for a total of $1,000.00 to date. I withheld August rent because I wish to challenge the landlord's assertion that I need to pay for the new heating unit. I did not damage it in any way; it just slowly started not working.
1 ANSWER
Having signed a contract acknowledging that you damaged the heating unit and agreeing to pay for the new one, it is almost certainly now too late to challenge that claim unless you can show that the agreement is invalid for some reason, such as fraud or duress. You appear to be claiming that you were under duress when you signed the contract because you needed to have the apartment heated for your children, but I don't think this will fly because the law is that you are not under duress if you have the opportunity to go to court to seek relief. If you didn't believe that you should be responsible for the new heating unit you should have sued your landlord to compel the landlord to install a new unit at the landlord's expense, instead of signing a contract agreeing to pay for the new unit.
Answered on Aug 28th, 2018 at 1:43 PM