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The trial of BARRINGTON PLAZA TENANT ASSOCIATION vs. DOUGLAS EMMETT, INC., a Maryland corporation and BARRINGTON PACIFIC, LLC, a California limited liability company, has been postponed one day to Wednesday, April 17 at 1:30 in Department O before Superior Court Judge H. Jay Ford, III at the Santa Monica.
The postponement is due to the Judge now stating that the burden of proof falls on Douglas Emmett, Inc regarding the eviction notices they served. The Barrington Plaza Tenant Association is suing their landlord, Douglas Emmett Inc., in what is one of the largest mass eviction cases in California history.
Tenants have filed a lawsuit in LA Superior Court which seeks to stop the mass eviction at the 712 rent controlled Barrington Plaza Apartments in West Los Angeles based on a state law that allows landlords to evict if they plan to remove the units from the rental market.
The lawsuit accuses Douglas Emmett, Inc of operating in "bad faith" in that it has no intention of going out of the rent business, which is required by state law in order to evict, and is evicting to renovate and gentrify the building so it can re-rent it at much higher luxury rents.
“Douglas Emmett Inc is attempting to evict all the tenant so they can remodel the buildings and re-rent the units at jacked up rents. That’s not what the Ellis Act is supposed to allow,” said Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival which has been providing crucial support for the tenants.
The Ellis Act has been routinely used by developers and speculators to circumvent local eviction protections in order to oust low-income and working renters to convert the property into luxury hotels, condominiums and rental apartments leading to the removal of tens of thousands of rent-controlled units in Los Angeles, worsening the city's affordable housing crisis.
“What’s at stake here is whether the Ellis Act will be allowed for merely renovating apartment buildings, thus putting tenants protected by rent control laws at-risk of losing their homes throughout California. This would deeply contribute to an increase in homelessness and the loss of existing affordable housing,” Gross stated.
Miki Goral, who has lived in a rent-controlled unit at Barrington Plaza for 35 years, said getting evicted would disrupt her life. "It's a very convenient location for my work, for public transportation,'' she said. "I don't have a car, so I depend on public transportation. We are fighting to keep our homes. We don’t want to become homeless."
Jacqui Fournier moved to Barrington Plaza during the pandemic and pays $1,595 for a studio unit on the 10th floor. She said, "If I’m forced to move, I won’t be able to find a comparable apartment at what I’m paying for now. We are fighting for all tenants. This is bigger than just us.''
The Barrington Plaza Tenants Association, represented by the law firm of Campbell and Farahani.
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