Squatters sue Georgia property owner who previously allowed temporary free stays

Meanwhile, listen to this story. One Atlanta property owner was generous enough to let people stay on his land temporarily if they helped with the upkeep, but has long since ended that offer. Now years later, of course, squatters have taken over and trashed his land, and one of them even sued him for nearly $200,000. Joining us right now, along with his attorney, David Perry, we've got David Morris. Mr. Morris, good morning to you. Hey, good morning. Thanks for having us. It's great to have you. You know, you've got a big heart. You wanted to establish this nonprofit where people could live on your nine acres for free if they took care of it, and they did up until the pandemic. And then you closed the nonprofit, but you could not get rid of the people, even though you asked them politely. What happened? Well, you know, people just kept coming on the land and bringing RVs and tents. The pandemic happened, and I tried to file eviction, and there was a moratorium. And I totally understand. You know, I'm compassionate, and I understand. But it just got out of hand on a lot of people with addictions and comorbid issues, you know, mental issues, had nowhere to go. Nine acres of hardwoods, you know, downtown Atlanta, Lakewood area, 70 acres of hardwoods also, the Swan Nature Preserve. And so this huge area, you know, for people to camp. Right. And David, it is beautiful property. You can tell. But then you see, you know, the campsites and the squalor as well. Mr. Perry, as the attorney, why is it, in so many localities now, it seems like there are these upside down laws that protect the squatters and not the people who own the land? There are. I think it's a lack of respect for property rights. There's currently a statute pending before the Georgia legislature that would make squatting a crime. They're also writing a false lease for crime. Yeah. Well, you know, what's taken so long? It just doesn't seem like this is right. Mr. Morris, I mentioned this at the top. One of the people who was a squatter actually sued you for $190,000 and you wound up going to court. He didn't wind up showing up. And so it was eventually dismissed. But right now you're at the stage. Yeah. Right now you're at the stage where you would like them just to simply leave. But they won't. What are you going to do? Well, so now we're at the writ of possession stage, which I've been buying and selling real estate for 30 years in Atlanta. And I've gone through the eviction process many, many times. Now the marshals will call us and I've told the people who are living on the land, and there's about eight of them right now, I said, guys, pack up, get ready. You know, the marshals are coming out. It'll be about three weeks. And I'll have five people with gloves and garbage bags. We have to load everything out of the house and out of, you know, the bunkers that they're living in, the little huts, and get it all moved to the street. We already had to hire a cleanup crew and they filled up five dumpsters with trash that had been left by the squatters. I spent $10,000 on cleanup. No, we can see the problem. We get the problem. It's just too bad that you're going through it. And ultimately this started out as such a nice thing. You wanted to help people. You want to, you want to get everybody off the property so you can build affordable housing there. So let's see what happens next. David and David, we thank you both. You no longer are in Atlanta. You're actually out in California because you've had it up to here. Guys, thank you very much for joining us on this Wednesday. Thanks, David. Have a great day. Take care. Okay. That's just crazy. I'm Steve Doocy. You can't kill me. And I'm Ainsley Earhart. And click here to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page to catch our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis.