Court Set to Rule Against Jose Morales in Ellis Eviction

The judge spent three days hearing legal arguments to avoid what would otherwise have been a two-day jury trial heard by Morales’ peers. Many observers felt that a jury would disbelieve a landlord who has tried numerous strategies to evict the 42-year resident, but the court made sure the jury never got the chance to keep Morales in his longtime home.

The ruling denying Jose Morales a jury trial and entering judgment against him shocked even those familiar with the pro-landlord agenda of many San Francisco judges. Morales’ Ellis eviction case has been very high profile, the landlord’s good faith was clearly in doubt, and a winning jury verdict was a distinct possibility.

But unless an appellate court reverses Judge Quidacahy’s ruling, we will never know whether a jury would have ruled on the tenant activist’s behalf. That’s because the court took it upon itself to resolve all factual disputes, denying Morales what should have been a constitutional right to a jury trial in an unlawful detainer action.

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