Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois
ownership of property left behind
An old neighbor stored her possessions in our garage free of charge in July 07 with the understanding the stuff would be gone by Aug 1, 07. Several phone calls and one letter later her stuff was still there in Nov. Letter and phone calls demanded she remove her stuff. Oct 24th was the last date given to her to remove property or items would be assumed mine. She came and got some stuff but left others. In the middle of Nov she called the police and came and got the rest of her stuff. She is now suing us in court for items she claims was in garage but not. We have admitted to selling a big tv for 300 and a 20 '' tv for 50 but nothing else. We assumed she did not want it. She is suing for 5000. Her stuff is not worth that. Went to court and the judge said she needed more evidence so he continued the case. He asked me what gave me the law to sell her stuff. Is there any law about being able to sell her property since it was there for over 3 months. What can I do so the judge listens to me and does keep asking what law gave me the right.
Thank you for your time
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: ownership of property left behind
The judge is just asking you to help him rule for you by telling him what law justified what you did. This is how the court system works. It is what lawyers do and why representing yourself usually doesn't work. You need to hire a lawyer to do this for you or find the law yourself. Your situation appears to be an oral lease of space for a set period of time. It may have a problem with what the law calls consideration. If a lease existed you will have to prove what its terms were, a difficult task where there is no writing.
Shell Bleiweiss
http://www.shell-bleiweiss.com
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