Woman says she was evicted over Easter decor

[proud2BlibKansan]

A woman is going to court claiming she was wrongly evicted from her apartment because she kept her Easter decorations on her door for two weeks after the holiday.

Carol Burdick claims her landlord unjustly told her to remove a display of Easter stickers, plastic grass, and Peeps marshmallow candies from her door a few days after the April 12 holiday this year.

"An Easter decoration is a religious statement and should be protected - even if it is just bunnies," said her attorney, John Pineau.

Burdick, 59, is not asking for monetary damages but wants jurors to find that she's not liable for more than $2,000 in rent and late fees that she refused to pay. Jury selection is set for this week.

http://www.kansascity.com/437/story/1264745.html

[Madam Mossfern]

1. Sounds pretty tacky to me

I'd probably tell her to take it down as well.
So tell me; what's the religious significance of Peeps, plastic grass and stickers?

[Bucky]

11. If you don't believe in protecting the rights of the tacky, you don't believe in, um... uh....

I forget my point. But I have one, dammit!

[madaboutharry]

2. I think that once you stop paying rent, your argument

of "wrongful eviction" becomes greatly compromised.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Yep

She had me till I read that.

[BlooInBloo]

3. "Burdick stopped paying rent, and she was evicted in May."

Sounds to me like the reason she was evicted was something other than what the headline suggests. Astonishing.

[liberalmuse]

4. There's always more to stories like this.

She stopped paying rent. That is what got her evicted. Not the Easter display. As irritating as it is, the property belongs to management and they did warn her to remove her junk before they took it down. She should have paid her rent and took it to small claims, though the odds are she would have lost.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. Uh-oh! Paging Bill O'Reilly

There's a "War on Easter" now!!!! Better gear up and ship out!!!!
:eyes:

[Toucano]

9. Be sure to pack your peeps and plastic grass! n-t

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. LOL!!!

:rofl:

[joeybee12]

6. Hmm...a Christian and a liar....

...who woulda thunk it.

[Bjorn Against]

8. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me this is not protected religious expression.

If this woman owned the property then she would be well within her rights to display religious symbols on that property and the government could not stop her from doing so. Considering she does not own this property however it seems that the management is well within their rights to regulate the types of displays they will allow their renters to put up, if the display were inside her apartment it would be one thing but it sounds like it was outside the apartment in a display that was visible to everyone who walked by. We do have Constitutional protections to put up religious displays on our own property, but we do not have Constitutional protections to put up religious displays on other people's property. Even if this woman had paid her rent it does not seem to me that she would have a case.

[asjr]

12. I had no idea bunnies were religious.

[konnichi wa]

14. Are you kidding? Nothing gets begat like a bunny...er, 2 bunnies, uh 4,8,16,32 bunnies

like that...

[asjr]

15. Oh, I did forget St. Peter.

[konnichi wa]

16. Silly wabbit

:rofl:

[boppers]

10. $2,000 owed in rent?

Yeahbutno. If she was evicted over the display, but had kept up on her rent, she might have a better case.

[Bjorn Against]

13. Even then I don't think she would have a case, she did not own the property

It is possible the law may be different in her state, but I know here in Minnesota landlords have the right to restrict any sort of public display on their property. She would be well within her rights to put a religious display on her own property, but she does not have the right to put a religious display on someone else's property.

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. She was evicted for non payment of rent...going to court to get past rent wiped out.

I have little sympathy. Keep your fake green grass, bunnies and eggs inside your apartment