Help!!Tenant proposing law suit...need advice

[Bobby Griffin]

Hi all, been a lurker for a long time and finally need some real advice about a previous tenant. Story as follows:

I had a tenant who was constantly late on rent who I filed eviction notices for on more than a few occasions. he always came through at the very last minute. This happened several times. Last year around January he quit taking my calls and then subsequently had his cell phone shut off. he was never there when I went by and was even told he went out the back door to avoid me. I went through proper proceedings and had him evicted. We changed the locks and put up a sherriffs notice. We then put all of his belongings on the curb. We took all of his furniture, electronics, paintings and other such things worth value and loaded them into a truck. The guys I had hired to clean out the apartment then took these items to 'who knows where'.

Said tenant has now sent me an informal letter stating that he has gotten back on his feet after a divorce and now has the means to properly and legally sue me for improper eviction proceedings and theft of his personal property. he states he has spoken to several neighbors who will attest to the fact that his property was loaded into a truck and stolen. he also states that he documented with witnesses several calls he made to me asking where his things were and if there were any storage fees involved. I never returned his calls. I simply thought this mess was over. he has valued his furniture at over 5000.00 dollars and even provided photocopied statements of the monthly bill of financed couch and loveseat. he has estimated his loss at roughly 10000.00 and states he is currently in the process of finding an attorney.

How can I protect myself from this deadbeat? I bent over backwards trying to work with him and in the end he simply did not comply. I did what I thought the law stipulated. Is he in any way holding a good hand here or can I simply dismiss this letter as a threat?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated