The following is a submission from the City of Santa Monica.
The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office has obtained final judgments in two cases filed against landlords who failed to pay mandatory temporary relocation benefits to tenants who were displaced from their homes.
Through the judgments, tenants will receive over $50,000 in unpaid relocation fees and landlords will be required to pay over $40,000 in penalties and attorneys’ fees to the city.
Both cases were brought under the city’s Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance, which requires landlords to pay temporary relocation benefits to tenants who are displaced due to health and safety concerns.
In City of Santa Monica v. Eric Todd Goldie, Case No. 22SMCV01058, the city alleged that the defendant landlord Eric Goldie failed to pay temporary relocation benefits to a mother of four and her daughters after the Code Enforcement Division ordered him to do so based on the landlord undertaking unpermitted construction work that rendered the unit uninhabitable. The case was brought in Los Angeles Superior Court when the landlord continued to refuse to pay the mandatory relocation benefit even after the landlord lost an administrative appeal challenging the relocation order and failed to properly challenge the administrative ruling in state court. The court’s ruling effectively upheld the city’s relocation order for the third time.
In the final judgment, the court ordered Defendant Eric Goldie to:
- Pay $16,119, the unpaid relocation benefit plus interest, to the tenant and a $500 civil penalty to the city; and
- To comply with the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance at any property he owns or will own in Santa Monica.
- In a later order, the court ordered payment of $40,700 to cover the city’s attorneys’ fees.
In City of Santa Monica v. 7th Street Partners, LLC, et al., the city alleged that defendant landlord Christoper Charles Drake “Bo Drake” and affiliated companies refused to provide temporary relocation payments to tenants in two units after SoCalGas red tagged their heaters and the Code Enforcement Division determined the units were uninhabitable due to the lack of heat in winter, and ordered relocation. The City Attorney’s Office brought the case in Los Angeles Superior Court after Drake failed to timely challenge the relocation order but still refused to pay the mandatory relocation benefit.
As part of the settlement with the city, Defendant Bo Drake and the other defendants have agreed to:
- Pay $35,929, the unpaid relocation benefit plus interest, to the two tenants and $1000 in civil penalties to the city; and
- Comply with landlord-tenant laws, including the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance, the Tenant Harassment Ordinance, Rent Control and Just Cause for Eviction protections, and habitability and repair obligations.
“The city’s relocation ordinance provides stability and security to renters forced to leave their homes through no fault of their own,” Deputy City Attorney Denise McGranahan said. “In an unforgiving rental market, it allows families to stay near their family, schools and work during necessary repairs. There is a process in place to ensure fairness, including a right to appeal a decision by code enforcement, but if landlords forego the process or are not successful in an appeal, they cannot simply refuse to provide the benefit. When necessary, the City Attorney’s Office will enforce the ordinance in court.”
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