Landlord Took Security Deposit And Is Now Suing Me And All Of My Friends Out Of Spite
CA - small claims
I lived with 5 people and we were under a single lease with one of the friends parents being the sole co-signer. We had a 10k dollar deposit and at the end of the lease, the landlord told us he was taking the deposit to make the house look nicer and add a rec area in the back and buy new decorations. (It’s literally on the itemized bill for the deposit along with new paint which is illegal in CA) Obviously we sued her and it turns out she is a lawyer and we have now spent the last 4 years in small claims court with her. We have had 7 cases and every time, she somehow gets the judge to allow for continuance. She now decided that she is going to sue each individual person in the house for the full amount of the deposit (50k total) out of spite and has promised to continue dragging it out to punish us.
What can possibly be done about this? We have mountains of evidence against her and this case would open and shut in 10 mins if a judge would hear it but every time, we spend hours in the courthouse and it gets continued for another 6 months. Now all of us (living in different states) will have to fly back as we are all being sued and we have to defend ourselves for absolutely nothing we did wrong knowing she will probably just have the case continued and burn our money on flights. It feels so unbelievably corrupt and these judges seem to know or be aware of her as she has had over 200 cases in the last few years.
I really need some help here please. Anything!
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