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Friday, March 29, 2024
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CALLED TO COURT — SG presidential candidate Ibraheem Samirah looks over his newly-acquired court summons Sunday night. Samirah was handed the papers during a meet-and-greet event after ATV’s SG Presidential Debate. His former roommates are suing him for allegedly failing to pay rent since November.

SG presidential hopeful Ibraheem Samirah summoned to court

Ibraheem Samirah, a current Student Government presidential candidate, is being sued by his roommates after failing to pay his rent since January.

Samirah was served a court summons Sunday night after appearing in ATV’s SG Presidential Debate.

Samirah’s roommates and AU students, Elizabeth Beaulac and Nicole Sutterley, sued him for a breach of contract after he allegedly stopped paying part of his rent in November.

Beaulac and Sutterley decided to use a process server to give Samirah his court summons when they had difficulties contacting him.

“He has put us in a very, very terrible position financially,” Beaulac said.

Samirah said he was paying too much for a room that was half the size of the other two.

Samirah had been paying $600 a month for a room, while Beaulac and Sutterley had been paying $675 each, Beaulac said.

The three students informally negotiated the division of the rent because the lease only states the total.

When he realized the discrepancy between room size and price, Samirah told Beaulac and Sutterley that he was only going to pay $500, starting in November. They did not accept the proposal and Samirah attempted to sublet his share of the apartment for $700 through Craigslist, he said. The $100 difference was going to go to Beaulac and Sutterley, he said.

Samirah said he did not see the apartment before he signed the contract and was only e-mailed pictures and dimensions of the room.

Samirah said Beaulac and Sutterley refused to sublet the room, claiming Samirah would overcharge the subletters.

The lease, obtained by The Eagle, prohibits subletting.

The landlord did not respond to requests for comment.

After not coming to an agreement on subletting, Samirah says he stopped paying completely in January and urged them to seek court interference.

“I was stuck. There was no other way out of it,” Samirah said.

Samirah never sublet his room of the apartment, he said.

Samirah only stayed one or two nights a week at the apartment during the first semester, and his belongings are still there. He has moved out and now mostly stays with friends and brothers from his fraternity, he said.

Samirah last visited the apartment shortly after spring break, he said.

Samirah has filed a response to the Montgomery court system stating his case.

Samirah, who said he had been anticipating a summons, intends to plead guilty and hopes to work out an agreement between the judge, Beaulac and Sutterley.

“I understand I was mistaken,” Samirah said.

Samirah said he does not see this affecting his presidential campaign.

“People go through this all the time,” he said.

Samirah also said he does not intend to hire a lawyer.

The three roommates leased an apartment on Kenilworth Street in Bethesda, Md., for a nine-month period.

The court date is set for May 5 at 8 a.m., according to Montgomery County records.

Staff writers Stefanie Dazio, Marie Zoglo, Lauren Landau and Chris Droukas contributed to this report.

news@theeagleonline.com


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