Love During Lockup LaTisha Collier evicted from her home again, sues landlord
Love During Lockup felontrepreneur LaTisha Collier has been evicted yet again. This time it wasn’t her Boss Tax and Accounting Services business, which has been evicted from multiple locations over the past couple years, but LaTisha and her family.
Starcasm readers may recall LaTisha was evicted from her former residence after there was some confusion over whether or not she bought the house or it was rent to own. LaTisha and her former landlord apparently worked something out, but the details of the settlement are not publicly available.
LaTisha briefly bragged about purchasing a “million dollar” home late last year, but that fell through. In the meantime, LaTisha rented a 2,833-square-foot home with 5 bedrooms and 4 baths just before Christmas of 2023.
The relationship between LaTisha and her new landlord(s) quickly went south, and the landlord filed a Notice To Quit on April 11. The Notice cited failure to pay rent and also a lease violation (unauthorized dog) as cause.
LaTisha responded by filing a Motion To Dismiss the suit on April 16. In typical LaTisha fashion, her Motion was simply an irate typed message explaining her side accompanied by a signature.
Below is LaTisha’s full motion, with the names of her landlords omitted:
LATISHA’S MOTION TO DISMISS
Plaintiff L**** ******* never served me any court paperwork. I just found out about this court date after the fact because L**** decided to finally contact me and send me the paperwork for a continuance. (exhibit 1)
L**** and her husband D**** **** are slumlords and it came to the point where I had to call the city on them and the civil rights commission. (exhibit 2)
I have been working with Michelle Westerfield with the city of Davenport code enforcement on numerous occasions (exhibit 3) to get the landlords to cooperate, however, they make excuses and refuse to cooperate.
They have refused to accept rent through me, after multiple documented attempts, or through their hired property manager J**** ******** who they are wishy-washy with. (Exhibit 4)
L**** served me an invalid 3 day notice over 2 months ago (exhibit 5) (notice has the inaccurate rent amount, and inaccurate lease violations and the rent in question was agreed between me and the property manager to be paid out of my pockets to pay for they sewer damage int the basement).
L***** *******, her husband D**** ****, and N**** *****, have not paid their mortgage in Nov 2022. (exhibit 6) They fraudulently allowed me to sign a lease in December 2023 without disclosing that the house was in foreclosure since August 2023, taking $5000 from me. I found out about the foreclosure 2 months later when a sheriff came to serve papers to the plaintiffs. If it wasn’t for the sheriff, I would not have known about the sheriff’s sale. (exhibit 6).
They house sells at auction on April 23rd and is not subject to redemption. I have been in touch with legal counsel AND the attorneys for the property, and the sheriff’s department as well.
I filed a $350,000 lawsuit (exhibit 7) against the plaintiffs for their fraudulent activities with this home, slumlord issues, and pain and suffering. Without having a direct contact to pay rents, (exhibit 8) and lack of communication, I have kept rent for put to the side as advised by my attorney.
L**** does not own the house, I can never get ahold of D**** unless he’s throwing a fit, and have been paying for repairs out of my own (exhibit 9) pockets since the landlord simple ignores me and has been for months.
I am asking the courts to dismiss this matter, since there is no proper paperwork from the plaintiff, the house will be sold in a week to a new owner, (hopefully a proper landlord), and let this matter be handled in district court.
LaTisha Collier 4/16/2024
LATISHA COLLIER EVICTED AGAIN
It seems LaTisha’s “Motion” didn’t convince the judge to rule in her favor. At the Forced Entry and Detainer hearing on April 23, the judge ruled in favor of the landlord. LaTisha was to be booted from the property and also pay the landlord’s legal expenses and all costs accrued on the Writ of Possession.
From the court document:
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
That the Defendant(s) be removed from the premises described below and that the Plaintiff(s) be put in possession of the premises. Upon issuance of the Writ of Execution, the Court commands the Sheriff of SCOTT County, Iowa to remove Defendant(s) from the premises in the daytime, put Plaintiff(s) in possession of the premises, and remove from the property all persons claiming to hold property under or by virtue of authority of permission of Defendant(s). The court FURTHER ORDERS that judgment be entered in favor of Plaintiff(s) and against Defendant(s) for the costs of this action and for all costs accrued on the Writ of Possession. Description of Property: See address on Original Notice.
Writ of Possession shall issue on April 30, 2024 at 12:00 o’clock NOON upon request of Plaintiff by appearing at the Clerk’s Office.
Appeal Bond is set at $5000.00.
UPDATE – It appears that LaTisha’s landlord may have dropped the ball on the the eviction. There was a motion for a writ of possession filed on May 28, which was more than a month after the judge’s ruling.
There is another docket entry filed by the judge the day after the motion for a writ of possession was filed. “Motion is moot,” the entry reads. “Plaintiff only had 3 days to request a writ and that time has passed.”
LaTisha and landlord text messages
Two days after the judge’s Order was issued, there are docket entries for “Documentation” that look to be text message exchanges between LaTisha and her landlord.
There were too many images to include here, so I put them together in a video. You can pause on each screen if you need more time to read.
#LoveDuringLockup LaTisha Collier has been evicted from her home yet again and she has sued her landlord for $350k! Here are some heated text exchanges between LaTisha and her landlord from the eviction suit 😬
FULL STORY: https://t.co/VQK4Ta1zPm pic.twitter.com/0TYHiRJWkr
— Starcasm (@starcasm) May 8, 2024
LATISHA COLLIER SUES HER LANDLORD
As LaTisha mentions in her Motion To Dismiss filing, she “filed a $350,000 lawsuit against the plaintiffs for their fraudulent activities with this home, slumlord issues, and pain and suffering.”
Court records indicate LaTisha filed a civil lawsuit on March 5. Here is the introduction from the filing:
This lawsuit seeks to address the egregious violations and neglectful management of property owned by Defendants, resulting in significant harm, distress, and financial loss to Plaintiff and their family. Despite numerous requests and efforts by Plaintiff to rectify severe living conditions, including sewage backups and unfulfilled lease agreements, Defendants have demonstrated a pattern of negligence, retaliation, and outright disregard for the well-being of Plaintiff, culminating in substantial emotional distress, health risks, and financial hardship.
Here are LaTisha’s specific claims in the suit:
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
On or about Dec 26th, Plaintiff entered into a lease agreement with Defendants for the property located at ***** ****** ***, Davenport, Ia 52807. The lease agreement explicitly included provisions for [replace the worn carpet with new carpet throughout house, family pets allowed on and in the premises, filming rights, new stovetop, and dishwasher].
Almost immediately upon moving in, Plaintiff discovered a severe sewage leak in the basement, rendering the property unsafe and uninhabitable. Despite numerous pleas to Defendants to address this health hazard, the issue persisted, leading Plaintiff to incur out—of—pocket expenses for emergency remediation.
Defendants have failed to uphold their obligations under the lease agreement, including but not limited to the provision of a habitable living environment free from health hazards like sewage exposure.
Defendant, D**** ****, has exhibited retaliatory behavior towards Plaintiff for reporting the property’s conditions to city authorities, further exacerbating Plaintiff’s distress and leading to threats of eviction.
Moreover, it has come to light that Defendants were leasing the property despite it being in foreclosure, demonstrating a willful intent to defraud Plaintiff.
And what LaTisha is seeking:
DEMAND FOR RELIEF
Wherefore, Plaintiff demands judgment against Defendants as follows:
A. Compensatory damages in the amount of $325,000 for pain and suffering, loss of wages, and other financial losses;
B. Punitive damages for Defendants’ malicious and reckless disregard of Plaintiff’s rights;
C. Attorneys’ fees and costs;
D. Any other relief the Court deems just and proper.
Plaintiff demands a trial by jury on all issues so triable.
It’s unclear if LaTisha and her family are still living in the rental property being disputed. Given that the Writ of Possession was scheduled to be issued on April 30, I assume they are not.
It has been a rougher-than-usual few months for LaTisha. On the same day she lost the eviction suit, LaTisha was arrested for felony theft stemming from allegations that she took money from a client for tax payment and never paid the woman’s taxes.
In addition to the arrest and personal eviction, LaTisha’s Boss Tax and Accounting Services business was recently evicted from their main Davenport location for failing to pay rent. The eviction was temporarily stalled after LaTisha filed bankruptcy for her business. That bankruptcy was eventually tossed and LaTisha’s information was forwarded by the judge to a District Attorney for a potential investigation into bankruptcy fraud.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com