Judge orders eviction of 100-year-old woman for causing commotion
A judge in Riverside County, California, evicted a 100-year-old woman from her Palm Springs apartment on Friday based on a request from her landlord, who sought her ouster because of alleged loud arguments and “deplorable conditions” in her apartment.
The woman, Evelyn Heller, defended herself, the Desert Sun reports. She did a brief hula dance after being sworn in, then later hovered by the judge’s bench during arguments. She was unable to read a court document until someone in the audience volunteered her eye glasses.
A Desert Sun reporter who visited Heller’s apartment said her carpet was dirty and her living room was cluttered with boxes and stacks of magazines. The mess, however, was “far from the point of hoarding,” the newspaper reported.
The landlord, Deep Canyon Desert, was represented by William Windham. He told the Desert Sun he felt conflicted but it was part of his job as an eviction specialist.
“I’ve evicted people off of their death beds and regretted every second of the trial,” Windham said. “But my job is unfortunately to set my feeling aside and do what my clients ask me to do.”
“It would be same if this was a lady who was 30 years old and had five children, or a little old man with cancer,” he told the Desert Sun. “If you have a commotion being caused on the property, and the people won’t stop, you have no choice but to take action.”
Heller didn’t realize she had lost the case until a deputy told her outside the courtroom. She has two weeks to find a new place to stay.
