Landlord group seeks federal court stay of LA’s eviction ban

A landlord group in Los Angeles asked a federal judge Tuesday to grant an emergency order to halt the city's eviction ban.

The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, represented by Douglas Dennington of Rutan & Tucker LLP, said U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson should grant a preliminary injunction to invalidate the ordinance because the city refuses to defer to a statewide eviction ban included in Assembly Bill 3088, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 1.

"We were optimistic that the city would, like other cities have done, rescind their local ordinance, so that landlords and tenants would then operate under the new statewide moratorium," Dennington said in an interview Tuesday. "The city attorney's office came out with guidance basically saying AB 3088 doesn't apply within the city, so that was the impetus for us bringing our motion at this particular time."

While neither the mayor, nor City Attorney Mike Feuer's staff commented on the governor's bill, spokesman Rob Wilcox said Tuesday, "We will vigorously fight the move for a preliminary injunction."

The lawsuit was filed in June after Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council implemented an emergency ordinance banning evictions, charging of late fees or annual rent increases in response to the state-ordered economic shutdown. The association argues the ordinance interferes in the contracts between landlords and their tenants, and violate landlord's rights under the Contract and Due Process clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Apartment Association of Los Angeles County, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, 20-cv-05193 (C.D. Cal., filed June 11, 2020)

Before Newsom signed AB 3088 in September, tenants' rights advocates said hundreds of thousands of evictions would come crashing down on the court system if legislators did not do something to address a predicted housing crisis caused by pandemic-related job losses.

Under AB 3088, if tenants provide their landlords with declarations that they have suffered pandemic-related financial hardship by the end of the year, and pay at least 25% of each payment due between Sept. 1 and Jan. 31, the landlord cannot evict them.

After the motion was filed, the apartment association president, Earle Vaughan, said a lot of renters benefiting from city ordinances have not lost their jobs, yet still choose not to pay rent.

"The city's eviction ban goes way overboard in providing benefits to renters at the expense of all landlords, particularly the small 'mom and pop' landlords making up the majority of housing providers within the city," Vaughan said.

However Faizah Malik of Public Counsel, who represents the movant in the suit -- a tenants' rights group called Strategic Actions for a Just Economy -- said if the city ordinance is enjoined, it will lead to an increase in homelessness, among other things.

"We are disappointed that [the apartment association] has decided to move forward with seeking a preliminary injunction to block the city of LA's eviction protection and rent freeze ordinances," Malik said in an email Tuesday. "Enjoining the ordinances now would devastate thousands of vulnerable Angelinos who are relying on these protections to remain stably housed, undoubtedly lead to increases in homelessness, and risk new outbreaks of the virus. We will vigorously oppose the motion, and will continue to do everything we can to protect tenants across the city."

One of the key differences between the Legislature's statewide eviction moratorium and the city's ban is new law's requirement that a tenant to sign a declaration or provide documentation of financial hardship due to the pandemic, Dennington said."As an association representing landlords, we don't like any of it but as far as eliminating abuses, when you have a requirement to sign, under the penalty of perjury, a declaration saying they have been impacted, that is something," Dennington said. Now that AB 3088 is in place, an eviction tsunami will "absolutely not" happen, he said.

However, tenants' rights advocate Elena Popp of the Eviction Defense Network, who is not involved in the litigation, said, "AB 3088 is inadequate. It is a larger Band-Aid on that gaping wound. We need a tourniquet -- a ban, a true moratorium on evictions -- until it is safe to return to work and the state starts to see economic recovery; minimally until at least 90 days after the governor lifts the state of emergency."

Pregerson will hear arguments on the motion at a hearing Oct. 10.