helping a mother

Hi my name is Lavousha Howard           I am a single mother, I work two jobs, seven days a week, just to make a living. I had my own apartment until a pipe broke in my apartment at the villa DE la Rosa apartment complex in highland ca. it flooded my apartment for an hour until the manager figured how to turn the water. The water was everywhere and I was left to get some of the water up. The water was on the carpet, floors, walls and all I had was bucket and mop to clean it up. I was told by the manager that carpet cleaners would be there the next day, to clean the water out of the carpet but they never came. Me and my daughter stayed in that apartment, while mold grew on the walls and carpet and the smell was so bad that we could barely breathe, and are clothes started to smell. Every day if not three times a day’s I called the corp. office, supervisor, managers, even code enforcement, but no one would help me, I felt helpless. I didn't know what to do. the smell got so bad me and my daughter had to pay for rooms while I still paid rent for the apartment, I talk to lawyers to see what I could do, but the only response I got was "you have a good case" but it will cost you $10,000.i would think to myself what was I supposed to do I was barley even making it.  I finally got good advice, and paid $195.00 for it. I took them to court and tried to sue the for $10,000. You see small claims goes up to $10,000, and even through the things I lost were way more than that, I still felt that would be enough for me to start over with. I thought I was very prepared. I had faxes of me complaining, picture of all the mold, videos of all the water, recorded conversations, and I even had a letter from the manager backing me up on everything that happened, but that still wasn't enough to win the case for $10,000. You see I won the case, but the judge only awarded me $675.00. That was nothing compared to what I lost: clothes furnisher, photos, a place to stay, my rent for the whole year I stay there with the apartment like that was a total of $6875.00. I felt defended. It didn't matter about me because I was a little person compared to this big company that has multiple apartment complex. Four months has passed since I was awarded the $675, 00. I went to court today so that I could retrieve my money, plus the interest for it for all those months and the money it cost me to have someone do the paper work. The total for everything including my judgment was $870.00. When I went to court the judge wouldn't even give me that. This was the same judge that awarded me the $675.00 in the beginning. He told me that he was going to only have them pay me $675.00 even though I had put more money into the case. When he ask Theresa Evaheart, which is the supervisor of villa DE la Rosa apartment complex why they haven't paid me she told him that they had been trying to pay me. The judge than looked at me and said is that true I told him no. he then told me “I think your lying". I told him what single mother you know is not going to go get money that is owed to her, and especially when she is barely making it? Theresa Evaheart than told him she had a check for me right now. The check didn't even have the correct name on it. After I brought that to the courts attention. She then said that I could travel to Los Angeles to go pick up my check. The judge told her that I didn't have to do that; they needed to find a way to pay me. I told the judge if there was any way that they could pay the court and I could just pick it up from them. They then had me sign a judgment of satisfaction even though I didn't receive my funds. I ask the judge so when I sign this and they don't pay me the money than what happens. He replied saying "I will be very mad" I told him and then what? He told me I would have to go back to court. So I basically would have to pay someone again to file paper work, pay for someone to serve them, pay for the court paper work, and wait another 45 days or more for a court date. This is crazy. This company has to stop running over there tenants and doing these things. This company goes to court a least once a week and gets away with things like this, and the judicial system does nothing about it. People like me; single mothers, fathers, sons daughters are left with nothing, when they worked so hard for everything. Now that you know my story please help me and if you can donate any thing to help me get back on my feet so that I can be able to take care of my daughter. If you can donate let me just thank you for taking out the time to read my life story.                                                Signed a single mother crying for help