See Update Below
Here we go again! Joe and Melissa Gorga are heading back to court today in their ongoing battle to try and evict the tenant who has been renting out their Montville, NJ mansion. The same mansion that was featured in previous seasons of the Real Housewives of New Jersey.
After failing to simply sell the home, the Gorgas opted to enter into a lease-purchase agreement with Kai Patterson. Now the couple is trying to force Patterson to leave the home over failure to pay the agreed upon monthly price.
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Frank Catania, the Gorga attorney, claims that Patterson owes Joe and Melissa a total of $165,000 under the $3.8 million agreement. Patterson was to make payments of $20,000 per month.
But Patterson says he had good reason not to pay. He claims that instead of a down payment, he and Joe Gorga agreed that he would pay for $25,000 in repairs needed to the house. He claims that Joe and Melissa took the money, but did not make the repairs as promised. I have to say, some of these problems may have been visible on the Real Housewives of New Jersey, but I never saw them on camera.
Patterson was found in default of the lease in front of another judge, but that ruling was thrown out when it was agreed that the case should have been heard in open court. Hopefully they all make it to court today.
UPDATE: The judge adjourned the case because Joe had never registered the house as a rental. Joe claims he was told that he didn’t need to register it as a rental home since it’s a single family residence, but that’s not the case. From NJ.com: “But Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor pointed out that the legal action sought by Gorga is an eviction for nonpayment of rent, and if the property isn’t registered as a rental, “I don’t have the jurisdiction to hear the case.”
Kai Patterson’s lawyer was ticked because he doesn’t think Joe should get to register it as a rental after the fact, but the judge informed his lawyer that it happens all the time. They go back to court September 2nd.
This is getting messier by the minute. Both sides should just cut their losses and part ways. The Gorgas move home and try to fix the issues and Patterson moves on and finds a new place to rent/buy/whatever. What a huge waste of legal fees, etc!
TELL US! DO YOU THINK PATTERSON SHOULD BE FORCED TO LEAVE THE HOUSE? DO YOU THINK THE GORGAS WOULD TAKE THE MONEY AND NOT DO THE REPAIRS?
[photo courtesy: Andres Otero/WENN.com]
