How Much Justice Cost Me

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$45,000+ and rising (10% court-ordered interest)

When people ask, “Why didn’t you just go to court and let the system work?”, this is the answer.

This is what it cost me just to ask for accountability after my landlord entered my home while I was naked and vulnerable:

• $4,193.66 in “costs” to my landlord and his legal team
   
• + 10% interest per year until it’s paid
   

This includes their:

• court reporters
   
• deposition transcripts
   
• photocopies
   
• postage
   
• airfare and hotel for a witness they flew in for a one-hour testimony
   

I am the victim in this story, yet I’m paying the people who harmed me.

As of October 1, 2025, my legal bill to my own lawyers was already around $16,000.

That was before:

• trial prep
   
• the 3 days of bench trial
   
• post-trial work
   
• reviewing orders and judgments
   
• closing out the case
   

Once the final invoice is issued, I expect my attorney fees alone to total at least $35,000–$40,000+.

When you combine what I owe the defendants with what I owe my own attorneys, a conservative estimate looks like this:

• Defendants’ costs (court-ordered): $4,193.66
   
• My own attorneys (estimated): $35,000–$40,000+
   
• Total justice price tag for me personally: $40,000–$45,000+
   

And that’s just money.

It doesn’t include:

• the nights I couldn’t sleep
   
• the panic and shame of reliving the incident
   
• the impact on my work and mental health
   
• the way it changed how safe I feel in my own home
   

This is the reality almost no one sees:

In this system, “having your day in court” can cost more than a new car, a house down payment, or years of retirement savings—even when you are the victim.

I’m sharing these numbers openly because I don’t want anyone to look at my story and think:

“He lost his case, so it must not have been that bad.”

It was that bad.

And then the system made me pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of being told my trauma didn’t count.

The judge issued a new order requiring me to pay $2,453.12 to my landlord and the property management company.

This includes:

• $610.52 – Airfare for their witness
   
• $449.74 – Hotel (2 nights)
   
• $1,392.86 – Deposition transcript costs
   
• + 10% interest annually until paid
   

➡️ $45,000+ in total debt

This includes:

• Legal fees I had to pay
   
• Travel
   
• Lost work time
   
• Transcript costs
   
• Filing fees
   
• Now an additional $2,453.12 directly to the landlord
   

The judge’s use of Rule 68 means:

“If you fight back in Wyoming and you don’t win outright, you will pay your abuser’s costs.”

This is exactly why:

• most tenants never report violations
   
• most never go to trial
   
• and why landlords act with impunity in Wyoming

Rule 68 is almost never used this way.

The judge applied it in a tenant-privacy case — not a contract or monetary dispute — meaning any tenant who reports a landlord entry in Wyoming risks being ordered to pay the landlord’s costs if they can’t prove the case 100% at trial. 

These new court-ordered costs were imposed even after the judge denied parts of the landlord’s request for lack of clarity illustrating how Rule 68 can be used punitively when a tenant cannot meet an impossible burden at trial. 

 Systemic Impact:

This ruling creates a precedent that discourages every Wyoming tenant from reporting unsafe or non-consensual landlord entry, especially LGBTQ tenants or vulnerable renters living alone. 

This update is important for reporters, attorneys, and lawmakers to see.