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Judge expedites hearing for Barrington tenants’ injunction request
Los Angeles Jul 25, 2023
Barrington Plaza in West Los Angeles. | Photo courtesy of DocFreeman24/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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A judge Tuesday granted a request by the Barrington Plaza Tenant Association for an expedited hearing in August on whether a preliminary injunction should be issued preventing evictions at the rent-controlled apartment complex pending the outcome of their lawsuit against the landlords.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant scheduled the hearing for 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 15.
In their court papers, the tenants’ lawyers asked for a hearing on the injunction sooner than the original Oct. 31 date, maintaining that landlords Barrington Pacific LLC and Douglas Emmett Inc. could begin filing eviction notices by Sept. 6.
But in their court papers, defense attorneys stated that there was no emergency or a likelihood that the tenants would prevail “on the merits” of the case.
“The court should deny this frivolous … application, protecting the principles of justice and ensuring that the rightful due process is afforded to all parties involved,” the defense lawyers argued in their court papers.
On July 13, Chalfant denied the tenants’ initial request for a preliminary injunction and a week later, Judge Jill Feeney declined to advance the Oct. 31 hearing date.
The tenant suit was filed June 12 following an announcement by owners last month that the West Los Angeles apartment complex — which has been the scene of two fires over the past decade, including one that killed a 19-year-old foreign exchange student — will be closing to all renters and that occupied units must be vacated so the buildings can be renovated with fire sprinklers and other safety upgrades.
The complaint focuses on a state law that allows landlords to evict if they plan to remove the units from the rental market. Passed in 1985, the Ellis Act was created to allow mom-and-pop landlords to go out of the rental business and take the units off the rental market.
However, the suit contends the law is being improperly used to justify evicting tenants and that landlords can make the safety upgrades without permanently displacing them. A majority of the building’s tenants are a mix of retirees, working-class and white-collar workers and students.
