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Broadcrest Foothill Apartment Homes claims Alicia Ortiz broke her lease and gave "insufficient notice to vacate."
Ortiz and her 17-year-old son were killed by her sister's disgruntled ex-husband.
Obviously the ex-husband has no responsibility here unless his name was on the lease. And even then he owes them jack and shit since the lease was "broken" under exigent circumstances. If the Apartment company can sue anyone it's the estate of the murderer and even then I doubt they'd get very far.Ex-husband told to pay slain woman's rent
She was 1 of 9 victims of Christmas Eve shooting by man dressed as Santa
COVINA, Calif. - The ex-husband of one of the nine people killed at a Christmas Eve party has been asked by a landlord to pay the dead woman's rent.
Broadcrest Foothill Apartment Homes claims Alicia Ortiz broke her lease and gave "insufficient notice to vacate."
Ortiz and her 17-year-old son were killed by her sister's disgruntled ex-husband.
The landlord of her Upland apartment informed her former husband, Carlos Ortiz, that he owes $2,821 in rent and penalties.
Says Carlos Ortiz, "I just don't understand it."
The manager of the property, Candyse Wardlow, refused to comment. Messages left at the company's office were not returned.
Alicia Ortiz, her son Michael and seven others were killed Dec. 24 by a gunman dressed as Santa Claus. He then burned the house and killed himself.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The ex needs to tell this motherfucker to get bent and to do some interesting anatomically impossible things. Since they were divorced, he has absolutely no ties of obligations toward any contracts the murdered woman may have had other than child support. I'd actually consider reporting the landlord for attempted fraud in his place. Preferably for mail fraud if he got a letter in the mail because that's a federal offense with pretty harsh mandatory penalties for it. If he's a vindictive bastard, he could do that and it would really ruin the landlord's day.Bilbo wrote:Broadcrest Foothill Apartment Homes claims Alicia Ortiz broke her lease and gave "insufficient notice to vacate."
Ortiz and her 17-year-old son were killed by her sister's disgruntled ex-husband.
I think that about says it all. I guess she should have known she was going to be murdered and given the proper notice.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29025876/
Could sue for mentsl distress. He may hate his ex but his son was also murdered. Getting a notice like this would really smack you around in the head.Edi wrote:
The ex needs to tell this motherfucker to get bent and to do some interesting anatomically impossible things. Since they were divorced, he has absolutely no ties of obligations toward any contracts the murdered woman may have had other than child support. I'd actually consider reporting the landlord for attempted fraud in his place. Preferably for mail fraud if he got a letter in the mail because that's a federal offense with pretty harsh mandatory penalties for it. If he's a vindictive bastard, he could do that and it would really ruin the landlord's day.
To play devil's advocate, that was a case where two idiots had ignored warning signs and climbed multiple barriers to get to a place where, unsurprisingly it was safe to stand and collapse.tim31 wrote:This leaves the same taste in the mouth as the story last month of the NZ rental car company that sent the family of two dead brothers the bill for recovery of the vehicle which they had left in a carpark before falling to their deaths. And there were people who vocally defended the car company in that case.
Yeah, they are just being cocks. I can see asking for the rent before they knew the circumstances of what happened, but after that, is just being malicious. On the other hand, it seems that there still were people (the kids) living there. I guess it's not unreasonable to expect payment, since they can't rent it out to new tenants until it is vacated and cleaned. Still, they didn't have to take it to the extremes that they did.Daily News Los Angeles wrote:Rent demanded from family of Covina massacre victim
By Frank C. Girardot, Staff Writer
Updated: 02/05/2009 12:19:42 AM PST
COVINA -- When she was killed on Christmas Eve with eight members of her family, Alice Ortiz unwittingly broke the lease she held on an apartment in Upland.
Now the landlord, Broadcrest Foothill Apartment Homes, wants its money, $2,821.23 in all, according to documents obtained Wednesday.
A Jan. 29 itemized invoice to Ortiz's survivors claims she owes $1,655 to the apartment complex on North Central Avenue for "insufficient notice to vacate."
The company also billed Ortiz for 12 days' rent and other fees accrued in January, weeks after she died.
"This is just low," said attorney Scott Nord, who represents surviving victims of the massacre and their family members.
Candyse Wardlow, who identified herself as the business manager for the property, refused to comment Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, I can't discuss anything," Wardlow said. "I can't go into what happened. I can't make any comment."
Messages left at the company's corporate office were not returned.
Alice Ortiz shared the apartment with her son, Michael, and her daughters Monique and Cecily, Nord said.
Alice and Michael Ortiz were among nine family members killed on Christmas Eve by Bruce Pardo, the disgruntled ex-husband of Alice's sister, Sylvia, authorities said. Also killed were Alice's parents, Joseph and Alicia Ortega; her brothers Charles and James Ortega; and their wives, Cheri and Theresa.
Alice's daughters have since moved in with their father, Carlos Ortiz, who lives in Ontario.
"I'm dealing with my son's death and the death of my ex-wife, and then they want to put up these kind of roadblocks. I just don't understand it," Carlos Ortiz said Wednesday. "They knew we would have to vacate."
Nord said apartment managers began seeking rent from the family in early January.
"I got a call from the landlord after everything happened, saying Alice didn't pay her rent," Nord said. "I asked, 'Have you seen the news? Her kids just lost their mom.'"
The apartment-management company followed up the conversation with a three-day notice to pay rent or leave, Nord said.
"So we had to get them out by Jan. 13, despite the fact that everything else was going on, dealing with the coroner, all these horrible things."
Carlos Ortiz said he would have no problem paying for cleaning and repairs to the apartment, but felt that being told the estate would have to pay for breaking the lease was stunning.
"Everything's been like a whirlwind since Christmas," he said. "It's sad. We had to fight them for two weeks just to get the stuff out. We thought that was the end of it."
Nord said he's had several conversations with the management company seeking some relief for the family on ethical or moral grounds.
"I asked, 'Do you really want to enforce this?'" Nord recalled. "Their response was, 'Our lawyers say we can.'"
Offers of help for the Ortega family in the wake of the Christmas Eve massacre have come in from around the world, Nord said.
"We had donations from around the country and even as far away as Switzerland," he said. "You never expect the kind of generosity we've seen.
"Toyota took the cars back and never said, 'We want our money,'" Nord said. "Other creditors said, 'Don't worry about it.' But what's going on here, we think it's just ridiculous."
I can't say I agree. The tenants didn't vacate: they were killed. They had no say in the matter.I guess it's not unreasonable to expect payment
These guys just blew any hopes of that out of the water, and probably beached them permanently, too.Not accurate. Two of the tenants were killed. The two daughters were still living there. Yes it is shitty, but nothing is free. Someone needed to pay for the time the kids were there.Tanasinn wrote:I can't say I agree. The tenants didn't vacate: they were killed. They had no say in the matter.I guess it's not unreasonable to expect payment
I sincerely look forward to the media crucifying this company.
Minors cannot enter into lease agreements. They cannot enter into legal contracts at all.Tanasinn wrote:As I read the article, the company is demanding payment for "insufficient notice to vacate" on the part of the murdered mother, to the tune of $1600 - the rest appears to be the 12 days of rent and other expenses.
It's entirely unreasonable to expect payment over "insufficient notice to vacate" when the signatory was murdered. I'm not even sure the children should be charged rent, since they don't seem to have entered into a lease agreement.
I agree. That was why I asked my earlier question about Death clauses in lease contracts.Tanasinn wrote:As I read the article, the company is demanding payment for "insufficient notice to vacate" on the part of the murdered mother, to the tune of $1600 - the rest appears to be the 12 days of rent and other expenses.
It's entirely unreasonable to expect payment over "insufficient notice to vacate" when the signatory was murdered. I'm not even sure the children should be charged rent, since they don't seem to have entered into a lease agreement.
