The City of Atlanta is suing a man after they made the mistake of tearing his house down.
Everett Tripodis was left without a home, and now the city is hitting him with a $68,000 lawsuit on the property for demolition costs, WSB-TV reports. The lot is vacant,t and the city says they plan to foreclose and take the property. Before the demolition, Tripodis said the city sent a notice claiming a city inspector found the house unfit for habitation. However, it was sent to the wrong address. The official demolition hearing notice was for Lawton Avenue in the 30314 zip code.
Tripodis’s home is on Lawton Street but in the 30310 zip code—about 1.4 miles away.
“I’m not going to let the city take this from me. I’m going to fight them tooth and nail,” Tripodis said. “When I saw that came from the city, I was quite excited. Maybe it was a letter of apology. Maybe it was a check. Maybe they’re going to justly compensate me. I opened it up and realized that they were suing me.”
After the city council reviewed the city’s demolition process, they found some property owners were unaware their homes were up for demolition, but that’s not stopping homeowners from being sued. The city claims that “the property should be sold at public outcry unless one or more of the interested parties tenders the full redemption amount.”
Tripodis called the city out for not taking accountability for its mistakes, saying it was a “slap in the face.” “After you air the story, after everyone sees it, instead of them fixing the problem, they double down and do it again. It’s like after the slap comes the spit in my face. I’m just frustrated,” Tripodis said, according to The Messenger.
The frustrated homeowner isn’t going down without a fight. Tripodis is also suing the city for the demolition. While he only has a few weeks to respond to the foreclosure suit, the case is going through the Fulton Court system.
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