Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington

My storage unit was sold with out my being notified and the sol all my personal

with it and I want them to not be able to d the numbers/ I ate manager after six months he finaly faxed me part of what I requested and that was the copies of the letters she said had all been returned. I wanted the envelopes so that I could see the post mark and the certified letter I wanted to run a track and comferm ononly but thats the onrm ononly but thats the one I wanted the n the track and confurm and it came back as not in the system I am suing the facilaty and I was wondering just how much can i get. I know I can never get my kid baby pictures first day of school those things I cant put a pric e on and didn't think I would ever be in the potion to have to, but since they have put me here I want them to pay me ALOT!!! they stole from me they treated me very,very bad and I don't think they shoould get awayo it to another family like ythey have done to mine so how much can I get? I hope this makes sence I had to get all this out of the ''heading'' box I did it wrong and I wasn'yt going to type all that again, so I'm sorry if some of the lines got put back in the wrong place. Thank you very much!!


Asked on 6/17/05, 1:03 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elizabeth Powell ELizabeth Powell PS Inc

Re: My storage unit was sold with out my being notified and the sol all my perso

How much you can get depends first on where you file. In Small Claims you can ask for up to $4,000.00, in District Court it's $50,000.00 and in Superior Court there is no limit.

It is critical that you file before the applicable statute of limitations expires. In this case, if you have a written contract with these people, that would be six years from when you discovered the loss.

However, if the manager can prove that she sent you mail and that the mail was returned because you'd moved without providing a forwarding address, likely a judge is not going to give you anything.

It is very difficult to sue the post office, although it could be done. You'll need enough information to prove that the storage place didn't send you any notification. That's what your case is going to turn on.

The judge can't order them to return your stuff if it is truly gone. He - or she - can order them to compensate you for your loss by paying you money. What you lost is irreplacable - but had value to you. Explain that to the judge, and ask that he or she send a message to the defendant that its unacceptable to dispose of personal belongings because such stuff is by its nature irreplaceable.

Your trick here is going to be proving - not surmising or inferring but proving that the storage place screwed up.

Have a copy of the contract with you. Good luck - Powell

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Answered on 6/17/05, 5:26 am


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