Alameda County Superior Court released its final decision and restraining order following trial in California and the city of Oakland against the Dodg Corporation et al., A major win for the city in a lawsuit against a local real estate empire for systemic tenant rights violations.
The September 1 ruling marks a major triumph for the city in a lawsuit several years ago against the owners of a major local real estate empire for systematically violating tenants ‘rights to their family businesses’ buildings.
Not only are defendants now required to comply with tenant protection and health protection laws in all of their properties, but they owe significant redress to the city and its former tenants, including financial penalties to the city and compensation to tenants for their years of illegal activities.
City Attorney Barbara Parker said, “The victory in this case means that Oakland tenants will not have to choose between their basic rights and the roof over their heads at any cost. Corporations like Dodg Corporation will no longer be able to ruthlessly treat the people who depend on them, and landlords will no longer feel as unpunished for completely ignoring their legal obligations under our local laws. “
When the prosecution launched the Dodg Corp. case in 2019. put forward, Oakland had long faced an unprecedented housing crisis. In 2019, the housing crisis had a disproportionately high impact on low-income households, with almost half of Oakland renting households being burdened with rent (i.e. the household spends more than 30% of its gross monthly income on rent).
With rents skyrocketing, many low- and middle-income residents of Oakland have lived and are living on displacement.
Prior to the filing of the case, prosecutors had worked with members of the city council and mayor’s office to pass several key laws that focus on protecting Oakland residents, particularly those with low and middle income.
The public prosecutor’s office worked closely with the council to pass the Tenant Protection Ordinance (MVV) in 2014, which was amended in 2020 to strengthen the protection of the PPO. But for some abusive landlords, neither the 2014 TPO nor its recent amendments were enough to stop their illegal activities.
The defendants in the Dodg Corp. case owned and operated approximately 60 rental homes in Oakland City (and owned at least 70 other properties in the city) for years. The lawsuit dealt with their blatant disregard of the letter and spirit of the law in relation to six specific rental properties where the defendants exposed Oakland residents to serious health and safety risks.
Owners’ activities included renting units on inferior terms – including units that were never intended or approved for residential use – to renters who were mostly low-income immigrants, including renters whose main language is not English.
This predatory business model allowed owners to take advantage of renting unoccupied or dilapidated units, including units with high and immediate fire risk, to tenants who were desperate for affordable housing and often did not have the means to defend their rights.
When tenants were evicted from their homes because their apartments were so unsafe, the owners broke the law by failing to make the relocation payments required by local law, according to a press release from the prosecutor.
The case went to court in early April this year. In its September 1 ruling, the court found that Defendants and Individual Defendants Baljit Singh Mann and Surinder K. Mann had a pattern and practice of breach of Tenant Protection Ordinance and did so in bad faith and that they were public harassment.
The verdict requires the defendants to pay the city over $ 3.9 million in civil fines for their outrageous violations of tenants’ rights. The defendants must also make long overdue relocation payments to the dozen of tenants who were illegally evicted from the six properties at issue in this case.
Defendants will also not be allowed to operate any of their Oakland residential properties in violation of any local or state law in the future. This means that the owners must respond promptly and competently to existing and future violations that endanger the well-being of their tenants.
The Oakland Post’s coverage of local news in Alameda County is supported by the Ethnic Media Sustainability Initiative, a program established by California Black Media and Ethnic Media Services to support community newspapers across California.
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/20/city-wins-case-against-local-real-estate-empire-for-systemic-tenants-rights-violations/
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