Sounds like the judge ruled in favor of the defendant and not you (the plaintiff).  

You'll never get anywhere trying to reason with them or develop a response to them based on logic, because the issues you are trying to defend yourself against aren't based on reality.Cut the strings and have faith that your attorney will have it resolved promptly.

Even the stalwarts in favor of prepaying your mortgage have a really hard time defending their position with money this cheap.  

So if you cost someone $5,000 for something they think is frivelous....and they know who did it....and if the commission finds the complaint isn't just frivelous, they will know you did file the complaint as they will receive a copy of the complaint and need to go defend themselves...and you will need to testify against them.

You can do anything so long as you are willing and able to defend it.

In those cases you have the training with your body to increase your odds of defending yourself along with common items in your surroundings you can use as weapons. ( Belt, keys, mop handle, walls, stairs etc. )Unless people have been attacked in real life they have no clue what it is like.

There are jurisdictions (parish to parish here) that have very different attitudes toward landlord vs tenant situations.There are reasons why LA is where it is on this list:http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/statesYour tenants are immersed in advertising (billboard, TV, radio, etc.) to  pursue legal action in the event of any accident, injury or incident and with "hungry" attorneys everywhere you turn, you will have to defend yourself sooner or later.It sounds like your father-in-law is great for the role you want him to play.  

Why or even how can a bank bid beyond the judgment amount against the defendant.  

wow lots of people defending a guru's work of pure fiction.   

Number of the attorney, plaintiff information, defendant information, sale date etc.I print out a bunch of these forms go to the courthouse and perform searches on sales that resulted in third-party buyers.