We are raising money to cover the legal fees for a disabled, founding member of our tenants' association to fight back against an illegal, retaliatory eviction.

UPDATE - Dec 19, 2025 - We are still fighting to lower the total bond amount but have an extension of payment until 4:30pm on Monday, December 22, 2025. Again, hoping that more of the these funds can go toward retaining the attorney, but because of your generous support he will be able to stay in his home while the appeal plays out even if the bond does not get lowered.

UPDATE - Dec 15, 2025 - We hit our first goal of $1500! Thanks so much to everyone who donated! Jay has filed an appeal to reduce the bond amount so hopefully more of that will be able to be put toward getting an attorney. The support of the community makes such a difference and we are so grateful to everyone who has shared and contributed to get us this far.

UPDATE - Dec 11, 2025 - Jay has been ordered to pay an appeal bond of $1500 despite letting the court know that is disabled and on fixed income. This bond is due by 4:30pm US Central Time on Monday, December 15. If he cannot pay $1500, he will be evicted while awaiting his eviction appeal. It is winter in Minnesota, it URGENT that he not be on the streets!

The Four Seasons Association of Tenants (FSAT) is a coalition of tenants in Moorhead, MN, who believe that no family should be forced to live in squalor or be threatened with homelessness for simply asking for a safe home, and are therefore dedicated to ensuring safe, healthy, and affordable housing for all residents. We organize to assert our rights, hold negligent landlords accountable, and build power within our community.

Our neighbor Jay is also one of our founding organizers. When he began organizing and asserting his rights he was served with eviction papers.

Jay is a disabled survivor of gun violence.

He was supposed to have a lawyer, but was unaware until the hearing had begun that the local legal services organization decided not to represent him, despite having informed the landlord's attorney in writing that they would be representing Jay.

Jay had no way of knowing he would have to represent himself, had no time to prepare a defense, and his disabilities largely prevent him from doing so. The judge should not have allowed the hearing to continue, but did anyway.

Jay has documentation of more than a year of maintenance of requests that were never resolved until he informed the landlord that he would be asserting his legal rights should the issues remain. The landlord responded by specifically threatening to evict him in part because he was considering asserting his legal rights by possibly putting his rent in escrow until repairs were made.

We know at least one previous instance where this lied under oath to the court (when trying to evict other founding members of the FSAT). We believe they continued to lie at Jay’s hearing, alleging that he caused damage that they also alleged another founding member of the FSAT caused when they tried to evict her. The only evidence supporting this was a plumbing invoice and report made by a company that does not provide plumbing services, but is owned by an employee of the landlord.

The landlord again lied under oath when alleging Jay made statements he never made, while providing no evidence whatsoever. There are cameras everyone on this property, and they could have provided actual evidence rather than second-hand testimony.

Jay is a Section 8 recipient on disability. This illegal, retaliatory eviction could cost him not just his apartment here, but also his housing voucher. The landlord is attempting to make a disabled tenant organizer homeless during a Minnesota winter.

Jay's case is a test for the strength of Minnesota's protections for tenant organizers, but we can only bring that test with adequate legal representation.