A Recent Case Out of Biddeford Maine, Biddeford judge condones landlord sexual violence

  Lori has been living in motel rooms since she moved to Maine more than a year ago. Working full time while attending the University of Southern Maine means she works up to 80 hours a week, so she really didn’t mind the temporary living situation, although she yearned for something more stable, a place she could call, “her own.” Housing is expensive in most of the habitable parts of Maine, upwards of $2,000 a month for a one bedroom, and many landlords require 3 months as security for renting. She finally found an apartment she could not have afforded at $1,400 without her federal student aid package. Being from a small town like Biddeford, Lori thought she could trust these people, who seemed like “nice people.” Maine's winters are notoriously cold, long and harsh and electric bills are usually nothing to sneeze at. She made sure she asked the owner about the electric bills before she agreed to rent the unit, and was told the bill usually runs around $100-$200 a month through the winter. On the day she moved in, she discovered the heating system was not working and immediately notified her landlord. 3 weeks later, hundreds of text messages, several hours of phone calls, and several hours of waiting for heating technicians to appear-the heating system was still not working and her electric bill was almost $600. The owner put their statement in writing, “we will agree to let you move out and refund your security deposit if you move by this Friday.” Lori agreed, and moved back into a motel room. When the text message concerning the return of her security deposit didn't arrive, she made the first move and texted them, “Hello, what about my $1,400 security deposit?” She did not receive a message back for 2 weeks, along with the message that she was being charged for destroying the property and leaving her trash all over, plus the cost of the heating technician appointments. Thankfully (she thought) I took photos of every room, crook and nanny before I left and saved all of their text messages. She filed the case in the small claims court, assuming it would be the best manner of resolution. Some of the text messages had included insults, calling her dirty, and referring to her also as being poor, and cheap. She eagerly awaited the date of the hearing, and was disappointed when the defendants failed to file a response, as she assumed it would be a lengthy process to collect on the soon to be entered judgement in her favor when the Defendants failed to appear. 3 days before the date of the hearing she messaged her previous landlords to say “the hearing is Monday, if you just don't appear the court will rule against you.” The husband of the owner team messaged Lori back with a photo of his penis. The first thing Lori did was call the police, go to their offices and attempt to file a criminal complaint. The police refused to take the complaint. Lori assumed the judge would at least acknowledge the crime and her right to be free from sexual violence. The hearing went well for her, the defendants did appear, and the husband did admit he sent the photo, along with the statement he had meant to send a photo of his leg.” She had all of her evidence prepared and presented it accurately including receipts, text messages and the photos proving these people were lying and abusing her and trying to steal from her. After a week long consideration of the evidence, Judge Le-Anne Sutton ruled in favor of the defendants, and ordered only the amount of the cost of an appeal be awarded to the plaintiff, along with the statement that the text message sent by the plaintiff was perceived as “threatening” and hence it was therefore understandable that the man/defendant had sent her a photo of his penis in response, she deserved it. 7 months later, Lori is still living in a motel room unable to afford an apartment because of the money the defendants and the court stole from her.