Property owners sue renter after burglary

New Orleans property owners are suing a former tenant they say failed to pay rent and then burglarized the property.

Lynne and Diane French filed suit against Gerald French June 22 in Orleans Parish District Court.

According to the complaint, the parties signed a lease agreement in December 2008 for a home on Campbell Drive in New Orleans. The plaintiffs say French failed to make the rent payment beginning in January 2009 and then abandoned the property in October.

The property owners say they changed the locks at the home a short time after the tenant left. A few days later, they say, French broke into the home and damaged a door and its lock.

"Plaintiffs' property was damaged, mortgage payments were in arrears, the hazard and liability insurance was cancelled, and the home was in foreclosure as a result of the defendant's actions," the lawsuit reads.

The petitioners are seeking $13,000 for payments owed, $7,500 for damage to their property, plus interest, attorney's fees and court costs.

New Orleans attorney David L. Coleman is representing Lynne and Diane French.

Judge Sidney H. Cates IV is assigned to the case.

Case No. 10-6417