A Florida-based property management company will pay $60,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by obtaining an unlawful eviction judgment against a USS Nimitz sailor, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) in May.
The false affidavit was filed on Feb. 14, 2024, according to the case’s settlement agreement, which referred to the sailor as “A.H.” The Department of Justice alleged that the company, Rental Marketing Solutions, LLC (RMS), named the sailor as a defendant in an eviction action for a property where his mother resided, where he had not lived for almost four years. At the time of the default eviction judgment, the sailor was a Petty Officer 3rd Class on active duty at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and was assigned to the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier.
Sailor left homeless while on Navy duty
The sailor first learned of the eviction when he moved out of his on-base housing at Bangor in August 2024 and started searching for an apartment to rent with his wife, according to the settlement agreement. The couple was turned down by a dozen or more landlords because of the default judgment appearing on his credit or background check reports. As the sailor was getting ready to go underway, instead of renting and moving into a new apartment with his wife, he had to take leave and help his wife move back in with her parents in San Diego.
The SCRA requires a plaintiff in a case where a defendant does not make an appearance to file an affidavit stating whether the defendant is in military service, with necessary supporting facts. This allows the court to appoint an attorney to represent the service member and to postpone the proceedings if a defense can’t be presented without the service member’s presence. Because the property management company filed a false affidavit stating that the sailor was not in military service, he did not receive the benefit of those protections, according to the DOJ…