A St. Petersburg property management company is on the hook for $60,000 after federal prosecutors said it used a bogus military-service affidavit to score an eviction judgment against an active-duty Navy sailor. That judgment followed him on background checks, made it tough for him and his wife to rent in the area, and left him sleeping aboard his berthed ship while he was assigned to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
DOJ Says False Affidavit Fueled Unlawful Eviction
According to the Department of Justice, Rental Marketing Solutions LLC (RMS), a St. Petersburg-based property manager, named the sailor in an eviction case for a unit he had not lived in for several years. Prosecutors said RMS filed an affidavit claiming he was not on active duty, which cleared the way for a Florida county court to enter an eviction judgment while he was serving aboard the USS Nimitz at Puget Sound.
In its announcement, the Department of Justice quoted Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who called it “unacceptable and illegal” to file a false affidavit that strips servicemembers of protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).
Eviction Judgment Shadowed Sailor’s Housing Search
As reported by WFLA, the eviction judgment kept popping up on the sailor’s background reports and spooked a dozen or more landlords, who refused to rent to him and his wife. The couple spent roughly four months living apart while he bounced between temporary housing. Local reporting said that at times he slept on the berthed ship, which lacked heat, while the eviction record blocked the couple from securing stable housing.
Settlement Terms And Compliance Steps
Under the settlement, RMS agreed to pay $60,000 in compensation to the sailor and provide ten years of credit monitoring, the Department of Justice said. The company must also pay a $6,000 civil penalty and adopt policies and procedures designed to ensure future compliance with the SCRA.
The department described the combined payout as the largest amount it has obtained for a single servicemember in a case involving a false military-service affidavit.
What The SCRA Requires
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act requires anyone seeking a default judgment to file an affidavit stating whether the defendant is in military service, according to USCourts. If a court determines the defendant is on active duty, it may appoint counsel or stay the case to protect the servicemember’s rights. Courts and legal guides note that knowingly filing a false affidavit can carry criminal penalties and give harmed servicemembers grounds to ask that default judgments entered in their absence be vacated.
Local Takeaway
For St. Petersburg-area landlords and property managers, the case is a pointed reminder that cutting corners on military-status checks can get very expensive very quickly. The message: verify before you file, and make sure eviction procedures are updated to catch potential SCRA issues.
As WFLA reported, the settlement is aimed at repairing the immediate damage to the sailor’s housing prospects and deterring other property managers from filing inaccurate affidavits that can upend housing stability for military families.
