so, i did get my court order in today, and i'm kind of flabbergasted that they would do this, as it's the smoking gun i needed for my harassment suit.

it's really the absolutely dumbest thing they could do, in context.

see, i sued them a few weeks ago for harassing me with the intent to remove me from the apartment. i gave them another chance (to fuck up). the day i gave them another chance, they put through an obviously false eviction notice to remove me from the apartment - thereby giving me the clear evidence i need to reopen the harassment suit. any lingering doubts about the veracity of my claims are now ameliorated - they actually filed the notice, proving my point.

worse is that they have to actually take it trial, because if they don't then they're clearly admitting the harassment. if i show up and walk into a grovelling paralegal, pleading with me to avoid a trial, he's going to have himself on the legal record demonstrating the initial claim. this all seems to have gone entirely over their head, right. in order to get out of this, they have to actually succeed in evicting me - otherwise it's obvious harassment. but, that was the point of the whole thing - this isn't supposed to go to trial, it's just supposed to scare me out of the place. so, they've walked right into a self-imposed trap: if they don't go to trial, it's harassment; if they do go to trial, and they lose, it's harassment.

so, can they win?

in order to win their case, they're going to have to demonstrate the following:

1) they need the unit. "i can save money" is not a need. "i want to" is not a need. this is a difficult burden. one usually puts their kids in there. they're claiming it's a parent, but that would probably mean it's the upstairs tenant's ex-wife (i can look into this), which is laughable.
2) this process is in good faith. but, they just signed a mediation order in bad faith moments before they signed the eviction notice. these people are pathological liars, and i can demonstrate it.

on top of that, they're going to have to get around the following realities, which are definitely not in their favour:

1) they have been repeatedly threatening to evict me for months.
2) there is a negative history at hand.
3) they appear to be selling the building.
4) this unit has problems with insects and with air quality. who wants to move mom into a cockroach infested basement full of sewer gas and cigarette smoke?

it would be hard to imagine a more obviously bullshit case. if i can't win this case, there isn't a case on the topic to be won. so, i expect the paralegal to do everything he can to avoid it. this is a dumb gamble, but it's his clients that no doubt put him up to it.

the hearing is on the 19th. i wouldn't expect an answer until the beginning of november. so, i should be here until december 1st at the earliest....

....but i do expect to win. and, i expect to win the dove-tailed harassment case as well, which i'm hoping gets scheduled after the ruling on the first, so i can use it to demonstrate the point. if not, i may have to refile :\. that's going to cost them a fortune...we're at eight months rent, now, and counting.

what should they have done?

given that they're obviously selling, they should have just waited it out. i gave them a chance to let it blow over, and they blew it.

but, i'll point something out: they have not been harassing me since. or, at least, not since the first day. my hope that legal counsel would straighten them out is working a little bit, at least. we'll see how long it lasts.

i'll also give them another way out: if i show up on the 19th, and they admit that the whole thing is bullshit, i'll drop everything. in fact, i'm going to send them the offer.

that's going to be their last chance. and, it's not by my choosing - they've run out of options.