Civil Justice Clinic secures significant trial judgment for client in landlord-tenant case

September 8, 2016Duke Law News

The Duke Civil Justice Clinic, working in conjunction with the Durham office of Legal Aid, has secured a favorable judgment for a client in a case involving significant landlord-tenant issues. The judgment came at the at the end of non-jury trial held in Superior Court in Oxford, N.C.

The clinic’s client, who is a single mother with three minor children, won a judgment totaling $6,172 for rent abatement for various deficiencies in the property, treble damages for unfair and deceptive trade practices, statutory penalties for unfair debt collection practices, and attorney fees and costs, which are yet to be assessed. 

The evidence showed that the landlord regularly harassed and threatened the clinic’s client once she started complaining about and reporting the deficient and unsafe housing conditions. 

Michael Moritz ’16 and Daniel Stockton ’16 worked on the case in the spring 2016 semester and took the depositions of the two defendants. Eleanor Geise ‘17 assisted with trial preparation and attended the September trial.