Dallas apartment complex evicted, threw out belongings of wrong tenant: attorney

A Texas man had all his worldly possessions taken from his apartment and thrown in the trash by the managers of his apartment building who were trying to evict a tenant — the problem was, they went to the wrong unit.

Johnny Abney says he lost nearly everything he owned — from his grandmother’s ashes to his daughter’s sports trophies — because of the screw up by his Dallas building’s operators, who mistook his apartment for the one next door.

But instead to trying to make thing right, his landlords at The Hamilton instead also evicted him, he and his lawyer said.

“You can’t just throw somebody’s stuff out on the street; that’s now how it works,” Abney’s attorney Jason Friedman told The Post Friday.

Abney and his daughter, 9, arrived at the apartment on July 25 and found their door was unlocked and all their stuff was missing.

“I had no underwear, no socks, my daughter’s clothes were gone,” the single dad said in phone interview.

The father later discovered all of his and his little girl’s things had been dumped in the apartment’s outdoor garbage bins.

By the time he was able to get to it, people had either picked over his stuff or damaged it– like a mattress that had been urinated on.

“Not only did they put my stuff out, they watched people take my property all day,” he fumed.

The leasing office initially admitted there was a misunderstanding, Abney claims, and maintenance cleared out his unit instead of the unit next door where a tenant was being evicted.

“They told me it was a mistake; they apologized,” Abney said. “‘Let us know if anything’s missing.’”

But the single dad said their tone quickly changed the next morning when they reviewed his rental agreement, and realized he was subletting from his ex-friend, but never let the management company know about it.

“They bullied him, tried to force him to sign a new rental agreement within 24 hours,” said Friedman.

Abney declined to re-apply to live in his apartment, and insisted he needed to be made whole before he would consider continuing to live there.

That’s when his lawyer says he was evicted.

Abney — who is now suing the apartment — is currently staying with relatives until he gets back on his feet, but hasn’t been able to see his daughter, who he shares joint-custody, because he doesn’t have a bed or room for her to sleep in.

“We’re talking about belongings he’s accumulated over his entire life,” Abney’s attorney said. “Most of us don’t have the money to replace all our belongings on short notice unless you’re Bill Gates.”

Then, there are the items Abney says he can never replace.

“My grandmother’s urn, I had baby pictures, trophies that, my daughter plays soccer, stuff I can’t get back.

Abney plans to go to take the apartment complex to court for gross negligence, theft and invasion of privacy.

The Hamilton management did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.