Squat Rats

Don't evict the squatters:

The Georgia Squatter Reform Act has apparently not been enforced in Hale’s case, as she has been in a legal battle since August, when the squatter first showed up in her home. Clayton County Magistrate Court Judge Latrevia Lates-Johnson, per Channel 2, issued the insane ruling that “Sakemeyia Johnson is not a squatter” because she is — wait for it — a relative of the partner of a previously evicted tenant. If someone wrote a fiction story this wild, he would be laughed at. So on December 9, Johnson brazenly told officers that she was not a squatter because a judge had ruled in her favor. Hale challenged, “How can she not be squatting when I’ve never had any type of contract relationship with this person?” How indeed? [There’s been] a multi-month court battle with multiple filings, hearings and appeals. Johnson even filed for bankruptcy, listing Hale as her only creditor. But on Nov. 18, a magistrate judge issued a final judgment in Hale’s favor. Hale said she thought Johnson had moved out of the home and came over the weekend to start cleaning up the home. Hale explained, “I returned on Monday to start painting and she had broken the locks at my property.” Johnson had the chutzpah to lock Hale out and act as if her rights and safety were being violated because Hale broke into … her own home. “She just caught up out of nowhere. She had this guy with [her], and I locked the door. I locked the screen door, and he forced himself in telling us to get out,” Johnson whined to the police.

Oh, the horror of not being the actual homeowner...