Page 56 - AAGLA-APR 2022

AAGLA and AOA File Lawsuits Against Los Angeles
County Over Illegal Eviction Moratorium
Latest Legal Maneuver Seeks Emergency Relief from the County’s Residential Eviction Ban
TLegal Move Follows County’s Recent Extension of So-Called “Temporary” Eviction Protections Through June 2023
he Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA) and the Apartment Owners Association of California, Inc. (AOA) announced today that they have filed a joint lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court for the State of California on behalf of their members and the County’s rental
housing providers seeking a Preliminary Injunction against the County of Los Angeles’s residential eviction moratorium. The move follows nearly on the heels of the County of Los Angeles’s recent extension of the County’s “temporary” COVID-19 related residential eviction protections until June 30, 2023.
On January 25, 2022, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to extend its “temporary” eviction moratorium in three separate phases leaving eviction protections in place until June 30, 2023. These same or similar “temporary” residential eviction protections have been in place since approximately March 2020, and in establishing these protections, the County has claimed jurisdiction not only over unincorporated areas, but also most of the incorporated cities within the County.
In their joint complaint, AOA and AAGLA have declared that there is no rational basis for extending the eviction moratorium and creating what is, in effect, a “rent holiday” that has not only allowed the County’s renters to remain housed without paying rent for up to two years, but which has now been extended by the County until June 2023. The joint lawsuit hinges upon the County’s permitted self-certification practice which allows renters to merely declare they have been adversely impacted by COVID-19 without offering any kind of proof or being required to provide a declaration of COVID-19 impact under penalty of perjury to their landlord. According to the lawsuit, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a recent ruling, has declared self-certification “schemes” like Los Angeles County’s are unconstitutional:
“In August 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States in Chrysafis vs. Marks (2021) 141 S. Ct. 2482, granted an application for injunctive relief against nearly identical self- certification provisions in New York state law prohibiting COVID-19-related evictions. Under the law enjoined by the Court, ‘[i]f a tenant self-certifies financial hardship, [the state law] generally precludes a landlord from contesting that certification and denies the landlord a hearing.’ Under principles of procedural due process, the Court held that
the scheme “violates the Court’s longstanding teaching that ordinarily ‘no man can be a judge in his own case’ consistent with the Due Process Clause.”
The joint lawsuit further asserts that the County’s Moratorium runs afoul of substantive due process guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it is not a rational means of advancing legitimate state interests. The joint lawsuit is seeking an order invalidating the County’s eviction ban.
Jeffrey Faller, President of AOA stated: “For nearly two years, more than 700 days, some renters have taken advantage of the situation created by the County’s ordinance and been able to forgo rent payments by alleging they have been impacted by COVID-19 without any burden of proof. The unsubstantiated ‘Financial Impacts’ of any tenant’s self-certification are woefully vague. Tenants are merely allowed to unilaterally decide to not pay rent based on the facts and circumstances they determine.” Faller further commented: “Eviction bans such as the County’s merely encourage unscrupulous renters to skip paying rent with past due rental debts continually piling up that in most instances will never be repaid. How could this create a situation that is good for renters let alone housing providers? Moratoria on evictions are unfair for those residents who have worked hard and sacrificed to pay their rent. Many of our property owning members have been forced to sit idly by as their renters have forgone making rent payments for months and in some cases years while at the same time making major purchases of luxury automobiles or expensive vacations owners view on Facebook.. From the very beginning, the ‘solution’ should have consisted of rental relief provided by our government, not a ‘free-pass’ on rent.”
AAGLA’s Executive Director, Daniel Yukelson, stated: “Nearly two years into this pandemic, with State and Federal eviction bans now having expired long ago, with business back to normal, and following a major event like the Super Bowl here in the Los Angeles Area, it is nonsensical for the County to continue to impose its eviction ban that will remain in place until June 30, 2023. No other business other than the rental housing business has been singled-out and forced to provide services for free.” Mr. Yukelson further stated: “The County’s ongoing eviction ban and recent extension provides benefits to renters well beyond those that had been provided by State or the Federal government through their now expired protections, and, accordingly, the County is exposed to significant liability risk for the damages associated with its eviction ban.”
AAGLA and AOA have asserted that the County’s moratorium
56 APRIL 2022 • WWW.AAGLA.ORG