Man won judgment against John McCall Jr. for his missing property in JP 5-1, the office to which McCall is seeking election
SEASONED | Justice of the Peace candidate John McCall Jr. said losing a lawsuit filed by a former tenant gives him the experience which would make him a more seasoned public official.
A former tenant of an attorney who is running for justice of the peace is speaking out against the candidate, questioning if he’s competent to hold the position.
Michael Fuentes signed a month-to-month lease in August 2012 to live on the entire third floor of 115 S. Tyler St., a building John McCall Jr. owns. McCall is running for justice of the peace, Precinct 5, Place 1, which covers Oak Cliff and Oak Lawn.
Fuentes successfully sued McCall in the small claims court he hopes to eventually preside over as justice of the peace.
Fuentes, a professional photographer, ended up leaving after two months because McCall was acting in a way that Fuentes referred to as sexual harassment. He said he then became ill at the end of September, which delayed moving his belongings out of the rental property.
Fuentes alleges that McCall took some of his photography equipment and changed the locks on the residence, both without written notice, so he filed a suit on Oct. 24, 2012.
According to the Texas Property Code, a landlord must place written notice on a tenant’s door if the locks are changed, stating where he can go to get a new key and how much delinquent rent is due. For the seizure of property, the landlord must “leave written notice of entry and an itemized list of items removed.”
Judge Sandra Ellis later ruled in February 2013 in Fuentes’ favor in the amount of $3,000 and court fees and ordered McCall to return the property.
Fuentes said his agreement with McCall was to use the space as a photography studio and a residence, and they agreed to some improvements. But Fuentes said it was McCall, and not workers, who made the repairs, and he said McCall acted “weird” toward him.
Fuentes said the behavior included watching him while he slept without letting him know he was coming by, texting him to meet for coffee and calling him “honey” and “dear.” He said he never documented the alleged sexual harassment because he just wanted to get away from the situation, but filed the suit to get his property back.
“It became weird because every time I had guy friends there, he would want to meet them,” Fuentes said. “It was just weird.
That’s why I left. I had to get out of there.
“I think it all comes down to Mr. McCall was sexually harassing me for two months and that’s why I moved,” he added. “And then he got his little heart broke and took all my stuff. And then I sued him for breaking all those laws in court.”
McCall, who’s openly gay, said Fuentes never told him he felt sexually harassed and said he thought the reason he moved out was because he was sick and couldn’t stay in the studio long-term.
“I would say that was not the case,” he said about the alleged sexual harassment. “And I’d be curious to see if he has texts to show that.”
Fuentes said he told McCall, who he always communicated with by text, that he was moving out at the end of September. When illness prevented Fuentes from moving out on that date, he told McCall he’d have his stuff out soon.
According to court records, McCall texted Fuentes “Rent?” on Oct. 4, to which Fuentes replied, “I’m sick and I’m moving out of there. I’ll get my stuff out of there this weekend.” The reply was “Got it.” Later that day, McCall texted “Please have empty by end of sat.”
Fuentes later went to pick up his belongings on Oct. 6 and noticed some of his photography equipment was missing.
“A lot of stuff was gone,” he said, adding that things like a printer, camera lens and TV were missing, and they were never returned.
He started taking his boxes out and found that the locks had been changed when he returned from a trip to a storage unit, and a friend who was helping him move was locked inside.
Fuentes said he called police and the fire department, and McCall agreed to unlock the apartment to let him take his things. But as to the missing items, McCall told him and police he had them and some of them were at a pawn shop. The police told Fuentes the issue was a civil matter and not their department. Fuentes sought $8,750 in lost property, court records show.
McCall filed a counter-claim on Nov. 26, 2012, alleging that after Oct. 8 there wasn’t any further communication from Fuentes until Oct. 12 when he “became a public nuisance and police had to intervene.” His claim states that Fuentes refused to return his keys, so McCall had the studio rekeyed “under police advisement” and Fuentes “was present and had full knowledge” of the locks being changed.
McCall’s claim also mentions that he put some of Fuentes’ property in pawn with a “current market value of $1,000.” McCall sought $2,096.02 for September and October back rent, as well as locksmith services and lost rent in October from other tenants waiting to move into the space.
McCall said while the lease listed the space as Fuentes’ studio and residence, Fuentes often slept at his girlfriend’s place because there was not a full bathroom or kitchen when Fuentes moved in. There was an industrial sink and a urinal, and eventually a toilet was installed, but McCall was in the process of installing a full bathroom and kitchen during the two months Fuentes stayed there.
McCall said Fuentes was never fully paid on rent and “when he did not come back to get his stuff in a timely manner, there was withholding of some of his property for payment of rent.”
When Fuentes showed up, and the locks had been changed, McCall said Fuentes became angry and threw items down the stairwell and out the third-floor window. According to a police report, the incident happened on Oct. 7 but was reported on Oct. 12, and mentions there was a tenant-landlord dispute. Nothing is mentioned about damaged property.
Fuentes said the situation shows McCall broke the law and is incapable of being justice of the peace.
“This guy is incompetent and does not need to be a justice of the peace,” he said.
McCall disagrees, saying that having lost a case in the justice of the peace court he is running to preside over shows he understands both sides of the court process. He said Fuentes’ coming forward about their disagreement doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be the justice of the peace.
“The court found that he was illegally locked out, and that is correct, and so that just makes me a more seasoned representative because I’ve been on both sides of the bench and both sides of the law,” McCall said. “Does that make me less qualified? Absolutely not.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition January 31, 2014.
