Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
I am going to make this as short as possible. My neighbors want to control us. The head of the household has spray painted lines on the curb and street designating where they want us to park. We have continued to park anywhere we can find parking. The neighbors have responded with read-ending our cars to park as close to them as possible.
I witnessed the neighbor's wife trespass into our front lawn and uproot and take a plant. When I asked the neighbors about the issue, the husband claimed he, not his wife, had only trimmed a plant. I called the police while talking to my neighbors, and the police would not come out because there was no real danger. The wife then stated that if the police came out she would say we stole a plant first.
The husband has broken a sprinkler on our front lawn on at least four occasions. His rational was the fact that his car gets wet. When we caught him in the act on the fourth occasion, my father and I told him that he should talk to us about the issue so we could address it. His wife and daughter then came out of the house and began to yell out as many foul words as possible. This only fueled the neighbor's anger. The neighbor then charged at my father and told him he was going to kick his ass. My dad did not move or say anything. I ran in between them and called the police. Sadly, the police did not come out because the neighbor was unable to touch my father because I got in the way.
The issues we have faced with our neighbors are many more, but these are the ones that concern me the most. I have told the police that we fear for our safety, but they have blamed budget cuts for not coming out. My response was to invest on a surveillance system.
Recently, my neighbor has been calling us out through our surveillance system. He points at the cameras and then signals for us to come out. Moreover, he has looked directly into the camera as he runs his index finger across his throat. I feel helpless. Is there anything I can do? I have contacted lawyers who have told me they would return my calls, but they never did! I can't even get the police to produce a police report.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You may be entitled to a restraining order under a variety of legal theories, and perhaps damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, trespass, nuisance, etc.
That being said, it is strange to hear that attorneys do not call you back. Many of us are in the business of bringing lawsuits to protect our clients rights. As long as you are willing to pay an attorney you should have no problem in getting in the door for a consultation at the very least. Even if you are looking for an attorney to take this on a contingency fee, many if not most lawyers would at least call you back to learn more about your situation. I return phone calls to prospective clients about 99% of the time - and there are good reasons for the occasional call that I do not return.
So it is not clear why you have having problems finding an attorney to, at least, return your call. My advice is to keep trying, and perhaps give some thought to the message you are giving the attorneys whom you do reach. Perhaps there is a reason they are not calling you back.
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