Peskin to Request City to Enter Fight Over Important Tenant’s Rights Case

Action Apartment Association vs. City of Santa Monica began when Santa Monica passed legislation barring landlords from harassing tenants, including providing them with eviction notices of dubious legality. Landlords promptly assaulted the legislation, claiming it void because it fell under the category of ‘litigation privilege.’

Litigation privilege essentially means that you can’t sue someone for suing you. Developed to prevent back and forth volleys of derivative litigation ad infinitum, the category has been greatly expanded in recent years, and now threatens to move its way into a vital area of tenant/landlord law.

Initially, the Superior Court upheld Santa Monica’s anti-harassment law. But the Court of Appeals overturned this decision. Should the Supreme Court uphold this ruling, it could set the stage for a severe erosion of tenants’ rights.

Most importantly, upholding the ruling would place major restrictions on tenants being able to sue for wrongful eviction. For example, landlords would be free to present tenants with eviction notices claiming the landlord wants to move into their unit. Under the Court of Appeals decision, even if the landlord had no intention of moving into the unit when they served the notice, tenants would be handcuffed from suing for wrongful eviction.

“It’s carte blanche for illegal evictions,” said tenant’s rights attorney Steve Collier. “If you can’t sue for wrongful evictions, you’re encouraging landlords to give illegal or wrongful evictions, because they get the windfall of the vacant unit if they succeed.”

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