I was behind in my condo assoc maint fees. The attorney did not send me a demand letter nor was I served a subpoena to show up in court. If I had received a demand letter I would have responded and discussed my situation with the assoc. Were my rights violated by them by not serving me a subpoena to show up in court? Aren't they supposed to allow me to have my day in court? I was not served a subpoena and yet they went to court and placed a lien on my property. If what they did was illegal what can I do about it?
Optional Information: Country relating to Question: United States State (if USA): Illinois Already Tried: Asked a lawyer and he suggested to just pay the back assessments. He didn't care that they violated my rights!
Thank you for the post, I am happy to assist you by answering your questions. Have they obtained a judgment and in turn placed a lien on your home?
Yes I stated that in my question that is why I'm upset and believe my rights were violated.
Yes, you should have been served with a complaint and summons to respond to the suit against you for the maintenance fees, but you are not without recourse. You should strongly consider filing a motion to vacate the judgment entered against you and in turn the lien attached to your property lifted as result of the judgment being vacated. I assume you never signed an agreement authorizing the condo association to act as your attorney in fact in this matter, thereby waiving any right to defense of the claimed fees owed. Please let me know if you need additional guidance.
can I do this myself or do I need an attorney to do it for me.
You really should retain counsel to do so on your behalf, you are free to proceed on your own behalf, but a simple mis-step could cost you the case. With that said, you should consider utilizing the Illinois attorney referral service: http://www.illinoislawyerfinder.com/phone-referralPlease let me know if you need additional guidance.
Just one more question. Can I file a complaint with the Legal Bar association to investigate his illegal behavior.
Yes, you can. But before doing so you should make sure you review the case file to learn what representations were made to the court that may have been false or misleading, and use those as the basis of your bar complaint.
Experience: Successful consumer advocate.
Is the attorney responsible for the server or board member forging the server confirmation. If not what is my next step? Civil suit against the board, server, individual responsible, ie each board member, or server? Without having to write a book the so called president had fixed the election by, forging proxies, and scratching off voting members submissions of vote, among a lot of other illicit activities. I want to believe that the attorney wouldn't jeopardize his practice in order to put a lien on my property. I strongly believe it to be the work of the illegal president XXX XXXXXX.
No, the attorney is not liable for the unlawful actions of the board member. If the objective is to have the judgment vacated, then your next step would be to retain counsel to file the motion to vacate the judgment. Please let me know if you have any follow up questions.
Relist: Answer came too late.I didn't receive an answer within the 15 min. alotted. I wish to receive an answer as soon as possible.
Answer was sent 9 seconds before your most recent post/relist. That answer was "No, the attorney is not liable for the unlawful actions of the board member. If the objective is to have the judgment vacated, then your next step would be to retain counsel to file the motion to vacate the judgment. Please let me know if you have any follow up questions."
Can I sue the board member or server individually or together for their unlawful actions, which in turn will cause me damages to my credit. Also can I file the motion to vacate on the grounds that the attorney did not use due diligence because I never received a letter in the mail. They claim they sent a letter via certified registered mail. Just because we weren't available during delivery of the mail isn't cause to skip corners and jump straight to violating my rights and filing liens without my receiving a subpoena is there? If they sent a letter regular mail I would have received it and contacted the attorney to discuss and rectify this situation.
No, you can sue the Board because the server was only acting as an agent and the member was acting on behalf of the board. If they sent the letter via certified mail and you never retrieved it, you were considered properly served.
I was properly served the demand letter but I still didn't receive a proper subpoena correct?
It depends, if the subpoena was sent via certified mail and you failed to retrieve it, you would be considered properly served.