‘Without a Trace’ Star Poppy Montgomery Blames SAG Strike in Battle Over Alleged $54k in Unpaid Rent on Beach Mansion
Poppy is fighting back in court.
Mar. 27 2024, Published 9:00 a.m. ET
Actress Poppy Montgomery and her husband Shawn Sanford fired back at their landlord who slapped them with a lawsuit demanding a 5-figure sum in alleged unpaid rent.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the Without a Trace star denied all allegations of wrongdoing in the suit brought by Aileen Scibetta.
The actress denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Scibetta rented her 5-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom home in Pacific Palisades, California to Montgomery and her family in June 2022. The couple agreed to pay $13k per month in rent.
In her lawsuit, Scibetta claimed Montgomery and her husband were behind on the rent and owed $54k.
The couple said their rental home is uninhabitable.
Scibetta said she served the couple with a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit on March 9, 2024.
Now, in a newly filed response, the actress claimed the homeowner was the one to breach the lease NOT her. She said the property was “uninhabitable” due to various issues that needed to be fixed.
The actress blamed the SAG strike in the lawsuit.
In addition, Montgomery argued that “Defendants ability to work and earn income were both materially affected by a nationwide union strike and COVID-19.”
“Numerous code violations and safety issues that render the premises uninhabitable need to be addressed by the [Scibetta],” the response read.
Montgomery and Sanford wrote a lengthy note to the court which detailed their grievances.
The couple claimed “most of the repairs listed below either have not been taken care or flat out ignored. A lot of these things are well over a year old and still are not addressed.”
The actress said there were issues with the paint, kitchen, lights, fireplaces, doors, gates and the wiring.
The actress and her husband were ordered to pay $100k to their ex-housekeeper last year.
Sandford wrote, “I would be very surprised if the wiring in this house was up to code as we have an outlet that sparks in Violet’s (our 10-year-old) room and the circuit seems to be overloaded and flip breakers if too many things are turned on.”
They said, “we have been requesting repairs and fixes for well over a year and many things have yet to be addressed … the security of the property and being unable to shut and lock the doors still remains a major issues along with other safety issues.”
The landlord has yet to respond to the claims in court.
As RadarOnline.com first reported, last year, Montgomery was ordered to pay $110k to an ex-housekeeper after blowing off the lawsuit.