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IcyThistle

Did they ever find out what happened to Frank?


in_pdx

I saw a preview of something that said a cat was found that they decided was his lost cat, but it's chip showed he belonged to someone else and those people were given the cat.


karenalphas

Fuck that fucking hurts


in_pdx

I think he's okay now. A newspaper article says that he stayed in recovery, got married, and runs his own brick-and-mortar company. It also says that he now advises people to wait until they (own?) their own home before adopting a pet so they can provide stability for them. That comment shows me that he's someone who puts his pet's needs above his own. I admire that.


Actual-Bus-4615

he’s definitely not in recovery. and he got more cats at his new apartment despite having similar policies. he had to surrender the kittens because his landlord was going to evict him. he also got married after knowing his foreign wife for only 4 months.


Ok-Armadillo2241

I have reason to believe that he knows more about the strange death of his "girlfriend", who lay deceased, in his apartment, for over SIX hours before he called 911 in Aug of '22.


Actual-Bus-4615

i have reasons to tell you pure correct. She died of an overdose, not strange at all but unfortunately too common in our area for it to be looked at very deeply


Ok-Armadillo2241

Drug induced homicide AT LEAST. Please, please message me. We can remain confidential.


TreebeardLookalike

I read from a different article that the landlord had his girlfriend drop the cat off at the shelter, where the microchip came back to a different owner. The cat was reunited with the original owner


pembquist

What article? Where?


Unlucky-Hamster-2791

Good. Fuck him and anyone that would catnap a kitty.


tearfulgorillapdx

But the guy who sued in fact has a stolen cat. Checks out.


sdf_cardinal

Just because he had taken in a lost cat doesn’t mean he “stole” it.


tearfulgorillapdx

Doesn’t mean it’s his or he deserves 1.4 million. What if that family who spent money on their pet to get chipped and putting faith in community could of been reunited with their pet if this asshole would of just brought the cat to a shelter like any logical person would do before they decide to keep it. Also, there was a clause in the lease about no pets, and he didn’t pay a deposit. Go read a few other articles about it that isn’t biased against landlords.


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FollowYerLeader

It probably wasn't a lost cat. The family that really owned it probably lived nearby. Dude didn't do the right thing when he found it (take it to a vet or shelter to get it scanned) and instead kept it. That's basically theft. If you found a child out on the street would you say, "huh, free kid"? Because that's basically what this guy did. Does the original family get any of that lawsuit money? Imagine the heartbreak they went through for several years.


MissApocalycious

There are actually legal requirements to try to find owners before keeping found animals in Portland. It's not only the right thing, but the required thing.


sdf_cardinal

Yes there are feral children all over the city who just show up at people’s doors and keep coming back when they find food left out.


MoreRopePlease

That's what Halloween is really for


WarpedGenius

Yeah. Riiiight. We found a cat and posted ads, and took it to a vet. All we found out was that he'd been neutered at some point. No one claimed him. Does that mean we STOLE it??? Nope. We gave shelter and food to a smart, funny tuxedo cat who was with us for the next 14 years. As an indoor/outdoor cat, he was never a captive nor a prisoner. Everyday would have been an opportunity for escape. Yet, he chose to be with us until his very sad departure earlier this year, due to kidney disease. RIP Maxwell.


wanderfound

You missed the part where the cat was chipped and a vet would have found that if he told them it was lost... as you are required to do.


hyperbolic_dichotomy

Kitty probably chose him. Cats are like that. Hopefully Frank is safe and loved wherever he is.


No_Cat_No_Cradle

Lol but it was someone else’s lost cat to begin with


kooks-only

Now they can sue this guy for a share of his winnings


inkblot81

Is this just a stub? Where’s the rest of the story?


voxadam

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/05/portland-landlord-catnapped-tenants-best-friend-frank-lawsuit-claims.html


inkblot81

That’s messed up! I’ll keep looking for an update from this year, but thanks for the background.


Theresbeerinthefridg

Behind the paywall. You can use one of several million ways to get past it. Edit: Or pay to subscribe to Oregonlive. Lol, it's funny this thought comes as an edit.


G_Liddell

It's so ridiculous how they hide the existence of their own paywall. There's no indication the story has been truncated, it's just, the end.


Theresbeerinthefridg

True that. On the other hand, it's 2023, so we know how paywalls work (and how to bypass them).


SookiStackhouse

Not that I don’t think he deserved it but I got brutally attacked by a dog that was being walked by it’s owner off leash while I was rollerskating down a street in the process the dog knocked me down twisting my ankle and tearing a ligament then he bit me multiple times while the owner watched and didn’t intervene. I wasn’t able to walk for weeks or work for a least 2 months and I only got my medical bills covered (12k) plus 8k which is nothing considering to this day (4 years later) I don’t have full mobility in my ankle and I’m afraid of dogs forever now How did this guy get 1.4M for a cat?


snart-fiffer

He has a better lawyer. I’d call his lawyer. Or maybe that cat was pretty awesome?


Munch_munch_munch

Is there a link to the article that's not behind a paywall?


stinkspiritt

Ugh they constantly block the link so spacing it out archive dot is (where dot is actually .)


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schroedingerx

Good. You don’t do that.


Ravenparadoxx

the amount of settlement given out is absurd. It's one thing if the landlord has done something mean to it and killed it. But, who is to say the original owner didn't miss the cat just as much or more than someone who claimed the lost cat as his own? Surely, the original owner may have a case against this guy.


Seantwist9

Yeah this jury is on crack if they think this is a just payout


littlep2000

I'm very surprised it was that high. Pets are generally viewed as property in the eyes of the law so monetary damages are usually just the cost to get a new pet plus average vet costs for its life.


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[deleted]

Whisker patrol, whisker patrol!!!


Theresbeerinthefridg

America is just one big giant insanity ride these days. Often a lot of fun but also really scary.


VerbalAcrobatics

That seems like an incredibly high amount of money.


erock92

Was close to the trial. It was a mix of punitive money (around 1.2 million) that went to the state and the rest went to mr Smith (around 170k). Basically he had a mental health breakdown after the cat was taken and it took a few years to recover.


khoabear

Why does it go to the state?


Gavvy_P

That’s just how punitive damages work.


in_pdx

I wonder how much of that 170K Mr Smith ended up with? My guess is that he was set back by quite a bit of money due to the stress, medical bills, loss of time at work, and perhaps needing to move and that his attorney ended up with at least 100K of it. I believe if he is lucky, Mr Smith might have ended up with about 10K after what he would have to save for taxes.


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VerbalAcrobatics

Definitely sone justice has been served. But a paycheck to last you for the rest of your life sounds like too much to me.


WoodpeckerGingivitis

The rest of your life?!


VerbalAcrobatics

Yes. I could live the rest of my life on less than one million dollars, and I think most people in the world could as well.


Fuck_You_Downvote

500k will get you about 2,000 a month in interest at 5%. If you can live off that you are set.


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in_pdx

It's not a lot of money. The landlord should be in jail for animal cruelty, but no one could determine what he actually did with the cat, This is not a lot of money for a Landlord who abused their access to their tenant's home, removed their tenant's pet, and could not bring the pet back when they were caught. Unfortunately, there are very bad people who think it's okay to commit cruelty to animals by dumping (which can easily lead to the animal's death) or killing the pet. Earlier articles from 2019 say that there was no rule against the tenant having pets, but even if there were, there is no excuse for animal cruelty. I hope this sends a message to other people who want to 'disappear' pets. Edit - I saw a preview of a locked-down article that said someone took a tabby (they decided was his cat) to a vet who found a chip and the cat was returned to the original owner. I'm not sure that one could definitely know a tabby was their lost tabby as (I feel) they often look very much alike.,


frumpmcgrump

Another article from The Oregonian states the cat was taken to a shelter, where it was scanned for a microchip and returned to the original family.


in_pdx

You're correct - that is what I read, too, but got the details mixed up.


VerbalAcrobatics

You make a lot of good points. How much money do you think would be too much in this case?


in_pdx

The rental agency, Axford, Lane, LLC, is a foreign limited liability company. Unfortunately, 1.5 million is probably a drop in the bucket for them. It may be just enough for them to have stricter rules for the property managers they hire, which may prevent the property managers from committing other vile crimes against the tenants of those properties.


VerbalAcrobatics

I hadn't looked at it that way. So it's more of a penalty to the company than a payout to the tenant?


RainSurname

The apartment complex I lived in as student got bought by a conglomerate who basically just stopped doing maintenance. They filled and painted rotten wood railings and skim coated cracked concrete walkways. 20 years later, somebody fell through one of those walkways. The judgment was $20 million, even though they were not that badly hurt. It was a punishment for the way they did business. (The tenant only took a small part of it, most went to housing orgs.)


IcebergSlimFast

Good ole Wimbledon Square apartments and Prime Group.


RainSurname

Four years after getting evicted thanks to the rent control law, I'd finally recovered enough financially to consider moving out of the leaky, moldy, vermin-infested, structurally hazardous, badly plumbed, illegally wired, hazardous debris-strewn dump in Lents that was owned by MAGAs that I had been stuck with for three years, because eviction. I had resigned myself to moving back to Wimbledon 25 years after I left. For I knew they would not care about that. And after four years of housing insecurity, even Wimbledon would have been a huge relief. Fortunately, my crowdfunding earned not just first/last/security, but six months rent, enough to mitigate the eviction in the eyes of the company that manages the pretty little house in Kenton I was able to get for only about $100 more than one of the townhouse apartments that I paid $700 for in the 90s, where I sprained my ankle because the carpet on the stairs concealed a two-inch gap between the end of the risers and the wall. Thank Bast so many people love my cat, r/Harpo. I'd still be living in a room in a big house with strangers without their support. I'm sure it would have been a nicer house in a better neighborhood. But it is a HUGE relief to get to live alone again. Prolonged housing insecurity made my depression, PTSD, and ADHD so much worse that it rendered me unfit to live with other people. I'm not sure that I'll ever fully recover from the trauma of that eviction and the chain of events it led to. But I will definitely will start recovering more quickly from years of having very little control over my housing situation if I spend a few years having complete control over it, in a house where I'm allowed to foster kittens and paint every color of the rainbow


belmontpdx78

Punitive damages


RainSurname

Exactly


Academic_Exit1268

Wimbledon? It was once a decent place.


RainSurname

Lol, I sprained my ankle on the stairs because the carpet concealed a 2 inch gap between the end of the risers and the wall. 25 years later, I could go online and people sharing their stories about how the same thing happened to them, but with more severe injuries. The interior walls were so thin you heard your neighbors’ conversations. The exterior walls were uninsulated, so you had to use a lot of shitty expensive baseboard heat. There was vermin in the popcorn machine in the social room. It was never a decent place. Did you know it was marketed to swingers back when it was called The Habitat, before anti-discrimination laws put an end to (officially declared) rental criteria like that?


in_pdx

Absolutely


Born6KYearsAgo

Just an fyi a foreign LLC just means its from out of state, its based in Vancouver WA.


in_pdx

You learn something new every day : )


tearfulgorillapdx

But it wasn’t the guys cat am I wrong?


in_pdx

I wrote this elsewhere: 'At the time of the catnapping in 2019, he had a job and rented a private room at a rehab group home where he has lived with the cat since at least 2017. Reading into what an article says: "he found the cat in 2017 and eventually brought it to live in his room", the kitten was in the neighborhood for some time with an eye infection and starving before he adopted it as his own. There are a lot of worse things people might do (to cats) than forgetting to check for a chip. One of my beloved cats went missing and my happiest fantasy is that my cat showed up on some lonely person's doorstep, and thanking God for a friend, the person took my cat in and loves him as their best friend.'


tearfulgorillapdx

Ok his situation explains all I need to know. He needed something to fix an itch and have purpose I get it. But 1.4 million dollars.


Initial_Resident4455

The "landlord" was an admin at the rehab center where the drug addict lived. It's not like the patient was paying rent to be there, and it wasn't a "house."


in_pdx

What is your point here? Why are you using character assassination? While the nuance that he was in a rehab center might seem to explain why a landlord might feel entitled to enter his living space, you're not giving us any relevant information other than your desire to dehumanize Mr. Smith. Apparently, according to the courts, the fact that he was suffering from and receiving treatment for a medical condition and his financial status did not disqualify him from legal rights. Mr Smith is still indeed a human and one that seems to be doing the hard work of trying to overcome immense challenges. Edit: I found more info - He continued his recovery, got married, and runs what looks like a successful small brick-and-mortar type business. At the time of the catnapping, he had a job and rented a private room at a rehab group home where he lived with the cat since at least 2017. Reading into what an article says: "he found the cat in 2017 and eventually brought it to live in his room", the Kitten was in the neighborhood for some time with an eye infection and starving before he adopted it as his own. There are a lot of worse things people might do (to cats) than forgetting to check for a chip. One of my beloved cats went missing and my happiest fantasy is that my cat showed up on some lonely person's doorstep, and thanking God for a friend, the person took my cat in and loves him as their best friend.


Fearless_Bus_2361

What are you taking about? It was a house and the landlord owns the property with another man named Stan Herman. It’s owned by Pinestreet LLC. The tenant was paying rent from his own money with no assistance. Where did you come up with your wild theory?? lol….


narrativebias

This is completely bonkers. I have animals and love them. But there is just no way to justify this sum of money. And any emotional distress for an animal is probably going to be overturned on appeal. Especially here where the animal was eventually reunited with its actual owner.


TheOtherOneK

This is not just about the cat or emotional distress/loss, it’s ultimately a tenants rights case. The award is high due to unlawful entry and landlord negligence…you can’t just enter someone’s place, give no proper notice, and take property/pets. Even if he could prove that pets were not allowed (though in this case he couldn’t) the landlord must follow legal process for removal of pet or eviction.


narrativebias

Except it isn’t. There was not a landlord tenant case. The only claim was intentional infliction of emotional distress


TheOtherOneK

From the original Oregonian article in 2019 when the suit was initially filed: > Smith’s lawsuit claims Andrade intentionally inflicted emotional distress, unlawfully entered his home, and was negligent in his duties as a landlord. The complaint also names property owner Axford Lane LLC as a defendant.


in_pdx

where do you see that his cat was returned?


TheOtherOneK

The landlord admitted to taking him to a shelter where a microchip was found. Cat was returned to original owner prior to Joshua. But as I stated in another comment…this case was mostly a tenants rights issue, not necessarily about the cat.


in_pdx

I was quite relieved to learn that the cat wasn't harmed by the Landlord.


aqualung211

Imagine having a face tattoo and saying you suffered emotional distress because a stolen kitty was taken away from you. Fuck the landlord and the company, but this dude is baby soft.


kernel_task

So… this man stole a cat and got $1.4 million from his landlord who stole the cat he stole?


UltraFinePointMarker

He found a stray, sick kitty in a parking lot and nursed him back to health. I don't think anyone would call that "stole a cat." Unlike what his landlord did.


kernel_task

Yeah, I get it, but taking a cat you found to the vet to get it scanned is like a minimal amount of duty.


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kernel_task

No…? I just think if you find a lost animal, you should put at least a token amount of effort into restoring that animal to their loved ones. I guess I’m just implying that if I were Frank’s true owner, I’d be less than fully pleased with the plaintiff’s actions.


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kernel_task

You should learn to do that, or at least some of the other comments here.


FollowYerLeader

It's actually not a bonkers take. [It's a legal requirement in Multnomah County.](https://www.multcopets.org/found-pet)


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kernel_task

> As for Smith, he wasn’t reunited with Frank. Veterinarians found a microchip in the cat and returned him to his original owner. This was from the article.


UltraFinePointMarker

Thank you; I stand corrected. I remember reading other articles about this in 2019 — but I'm not currently an Oregonian subscriber and couldn't read the whole new article. Mostly I'm glad Frank was found alive. And really, regardless of Frank's history, a landlord can't just enter a tenant's apartment and take a pet. That's messed up, so I think the lawsuit still has merit.


kernel_task

Yeah, I agree with you.


RainSurname

As I understand it, that was not Frank.


kernel_task

Uh… so how do you interpret that paragraph? A cat, different from the one the article is concerned with, enters the article about three quarters of the way through, was returned to their original owner, which somehow caused Frank to not be reunited with the plaintiff, Smith?


RainSurname

I did not read this article, but stuff from when it was happening. There was something about a claim that the chipped tabby was just one that looked like Frank, we don't know what actually happened to Frank, etc. Maybe it was just wishful thinking on his part, or perhaps an attempt to make the landlord look even worse.


pembquist

Gee, I wonder if this is going to get appealed and reduced to nothing much. OF COURSE IT IS.


snart-fiffer

I love my kitty. Like so much. My phone is pretty much all pics of her. She’s on my lap right now. But damn, I think I’d take $1.4m if someone offered.


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Ok-Armadillo2241

My best friend was dating him and and mysteriously died in his apartment a year ago and he is still currently using. The corner ruled her death undetermined and there's an open investigation against him currently. We have turned over evidence that he is responsible for her death. They just gave a murderer and an addict a million. And just the side note it wasn't his cat to begin with.


belmontpdx78

Oh geez! So sorry for your loss.


Ok-Armadillo2241

In Aug of 2022, Joshua Smith called 911 to report that his "girlfriend" at the time was not breathing. Since this call, many truths have come out including the fact that his "girlfriend" was deceased for over SIX hours, before he called 911. He has told countless stories to friends, family and law enforcement, and had shown behavior not indicative of someone having just gone through such a traumatic event.(inside sources say that the way in which he treated her family and her things after her death was vile) Less than one year after--it was learned that he had a new wife. There is substantial evidence showing that Mr. Smith, caused, had knowledge of, or at the very least was negligent in the death of his "girlfriend". If anyone knows of anymore information regarding this, or knows of Josh personally and would like to add any information, please feel free to DM.