A Brain Tumor Can't Break An Apartment Lease

http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=3151679&nav=3HvEY93b


MEMPHIS -- A Cordova woman will have to pay an apartment complex a quarter of the cost of her 12-month lease, despite a terminal brain tumor that forced her to move back in with her mother.

One month after she signed a year-long lease with Rock Creek Apartments at 8150 Rock Creek Parkway in Cordova, 21-year-old Catherine Needham was diagnosed with the worst kind of brain tumor there is -- the same kind that killed celebrity attorney Johnnie Cochran. Pounding headaches and endless rounds of chemotherapy left her unable to work or care for herself. She had to move back home with her mother Margaret in Bartlett.

Margaret Needham says she wrote Rock Creek's parent company, The Sunshine Corporation at 5575 Poplar Avenue, Suite 414 in East Memphis, asking the company to make an exception and let Catherine out of the rest of her lease due to the terminal illness.

"I never got a response," says Margaret. "The only thing they would send me is bills and charges, and most of them were bogus." The Sunshine Corporation's president, Leonard Richman, sued the Needhams for the balance of the lease, plus attorney's fees. Richman says he is limited to what he can discuss about the case, but he maintains his company is sensitive to tenants with special needs or who are sick like Catherine Needham.

You can tell by his & his company's responses.

It's NOT about "pro-life"....it's about money, money, money. They only have mercy for white collar criminals who steal BILLIONS of other people's money.

:kick:

and that is how he got to be a rich man in the first place.

Rule 144
There's nothing wrong with charity...as long as it winds up in your pocket.
-- The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition

Come on this is America.

:sarcasm:

Did a google on them and found these tidbits..alot less serious incident than a brain tumor but still shows they are greedy bastards.
Gee, has this guy figured out that maybe it is just HIS apartments that people are avoiding??

http://www.hastingsinteractive.com/pmf221/archives.php?id=A2003041


Fri Apr 25, 2003
Sunshine Corporation of Memphis sucks
Having been a tenant of The Glen Townhomes in Memphis, TN, for several years now, I learn that I have to pay the management company, Sunshine Corporation, $400 each for my dog and for my roommate's dog as an after-the-fact pet fee. Who has $800 to just give away? We certianly don't. So I'm beginning a new apartment search today.



https://www.copleynews.com/1cns/features/house/OpenHouseContents.htm

"I've been in the rental management field for 30 years and this is the worst rental climate I've ever seen," said Leonard Richman, president of Sunshine Corp., a major property management firm.

I can't imagine that this would be upheld by an appeals court

In most states illness or even death does NOT end a lease unless a clause in the lease clearly gives such an exception.

sometimes you put money aside and act like a human being.

allowing for it, I can't see how or why an appeals court would overturn the ruling.

Especially in the South, rental laws generally favor the landlord. There is no legal precedent I'm aware of that allows for breaking a lease due to medical illness. If she can't afford to pay the judgement, she can of course file bankruptcy to get out of it.

to get her out of her lease.

I hope her landlord racks up a lot of bad karma for this.

n/t

And lives the life of a SWINE

although, with a bit more work, I'm sure DeLay will manage to stretch his all the way up to TN.

It would be illegal for him to make her pay out the lease while double-dipping.

A landlord, at least in NJ and I would guess most places, has a duty to mitigate damages by trying to find another tenant. If he doesn't make a good faith effort to rent to another tenant he cannot collect from the current tenant. If he rents it for less then he can only collect the difference.

And this type of thing is WHY I live in a blue state. These people vote for pukes, and pukes eviscerate consumer and rental protections in favor of wealthy landlords.

I have been told that usually judges in NJ only hold lease breakers liable for 1 month beyond tenancy, that this is how they decide mitigation in practice.

they do not believe landlords who say they cannot rent apartments.

They do not have to make any effort to find another tenant. And, someone I know who is a leasing agent says the "double-dipping" goes on ALL the time. If the person moves out of state, they do it. Makes me sick.

And in this case? There should be a law. The young woman is TERMINAL. Her family needs the money to make her last days easier and to pay for a funeral. Bastard.

She is 21 years old, she is living with her mother, if she has worked for six "Quarters" earning more than $250 in each "Quarter" she will be eligible for Social Security (Which Can NOT be attached). If her Social Security Disability is less than the SSI amount she can get SSI (It is clear she can not work). Furthermore this developed before she turned 22, which makes her eligible for Social Security Disability on her parent's accounts (Provided their have worked which it looks like their have).

Anyway her Social Security is NOT attachable. Unless her parent's con-sign for her apartment the Parents are NOT liable for her debts (She is over 18). Thus the only way this Judgment can be paid (without the co-operation of the 21 year old) is by a Sheriff's sale of her personal property. I do not Know the California Exemptions but given she is living with her mother I do not think her assets exceed such exemption level. All told it looks like the 21 year old is Judgment proof, and as such if I was her go tell the Landlord to pound salt for his rent money.

Now if she recovers and starts to work again she should declare bankruptcy then and discharge this debt and any outstanding medical debts but she should wait on bankruptcy until her brain tumor is resolved one way or another.

These people are already dripping with compassionate conservatism.

signed for the apartment. Unfortunately, if she passes away, they can't sue anyone. When my father died years and years ago, a hospital sent me a bill he hadn't paid. It wasn't very large and I was young and dumb so I paid it. Found out later that any bills left from a single person after a death cannot be sued for from immediate family members. They can go after a spouse I believe, but no one else. Why is it when a person sues a company or corporation, it takes years, but if a company or corporation sues an individual the case goes through almost immediately?

Sad.

If money from the estate is passed on to others they can be required to give it back.

small life insurance policy and I guess they had a right to that. SAD! As I said, it wasn't much so I paid it. But, could they go after me if I had been left nothing? I was the only immediate family member.If they have the laws that any family member is liable for the bills of other family members, wow, we are in big trouble.

What if John Smith works hard all of his life. He has a nice home and saves his money. But, John Smith's father, who has not been around all that much in his life, or even if he has, ends up with thousands of dollars of medical bills and credit card bills before he dies. Can John Smith be required to pay these bills?

I'm confused.

My brother and I were left in the same situation when my father died. He had more debt then he had life insurance, and he had no estate. Our attorney told us that we were not responsible for any debt if we were not con-signers on that debt. And creditors could not go after the life insurance in our case. If he had an estate that would have made a difference.

She needs to go to an attorney, or find an advocate for the disabled to fight this for her.

A good rule that makes a spouse responsible for the NECESSITIES of his or her Spouse. Please note it covers NECESSITIES only, housing, Clothing, Food, Medical care. The last case I had (that was not for Medical Care) the Credit Card Company sued the Husband for the Credit Card debt of his wife. I asked in Discovery for a list of what was purchased and then showed that it was for presents for the couple's Grandkids. That is NOT a necessity and the case was dropped.

Please note this concept covers MARRIED couples only (and I do not know how it works in California for I do not practice in that state). For exact rules regarding the concept in California see a California Attorney.

needs to file bankruptcy quick. Problem solved, she has better things to concern herself with then this greedy corporation.

You can only declare Bankruptcy once every Seven years, thus if she declare bankruptcy on this debt she can not discharge any excessive medical bills for seven years. My advice is reduce her assets to whatever is the California exemption for Execution sale and live with her mother until the medical problem is resolved one way or another.

Told him not to get any ideas.



But, yeah, this is a case of corporate America losing sight of the forest for the trees.

Makes you wonder how people like this apartment manager sleep at night...

My nephew's case is surgically curable (it's benign). But, during the testing last week, they discovered he has Marfan Syndrome, too (remember Hank Gathers?)


Oooof. Talk about a rough draw.


I don't believe in a god but I do believe in Karma. This apt. mgr. and that leasing company have theirs coming.

She's not working... and is facing much larger problems than this bill from an apartment complex. Let them huff and puff all they want -- just bad publicity for them.

My dad's owned rentals near Michigan State for decades, and he would never, ever do anything that horrible! Not ever!

May God hit that man with a "brick" of some kind.

bad publicity, in the form of LTTE of the local papers? :evilgrin:

I think DU'ers are up to it.

Nothing like teaching someone how to have a heart.