On October 26, 2022, Community Legal Aid SoCal (CLA SoCal) secured published precedent from the Appellate Division of the Orange County Superior Court in Attenello v. Basilious that vindicates tenant protections enshrined in California law.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, two of CLA SoCal’s clients were pressured by their landlord to sign a boilerplate form that forces tenants to vacate the premises by a specified date, in exchange for a promise of rent forgiveness. This form has the hallmarks of an unconscionable contract because it forces clients to unknowingly sign away their statutory protections.
When the landlord tried to evict CLA SoCal’s clients for failure to vacate pursuant to the form, both the trial court and the Appellate Division held that the form did not meet the just cause requirements of the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (TPA). The Basilious decision will make it harder for landlords to evict tenants based on boilerplate agreements that are not prepared by the tenant, and therefore cannot constitute a tenant’s written notice terminating the tenancy.
The boilerplate form at issue in Attenello v. Basilious was created and distributed by the California Association of Realtors, a third-party interest group aligned with landlords. During the eviction proceedings, the landlord argued there was just cause to evict under the TPA because the form constituted the clients’ written notice to terminate the tenancy and they had failed to vacate as promised.
CLA SoCal successfully demurred, and the landlord appealed. CLA SoCal defended the appeal, and Western Center on Law and Poverty submitted an amicus brief urging the Court to affirm for public policy reasons. On September 20, 2022, the Appellate Division issued an opinion affirming the trial court’s ruling on the grounds that the form was not a written notice or offer to terminate the tenancy by the tenants, and therefore did not meet the just cause requirements of the TPA. On October 26, 2022, the Court found good cause to publish the opinion in the Official Reports.
CLA SoCal’s senior attorney Jonathan Gibson (Housing Unit) represented the clients successfully in the trial court, and he was joined by staff attorneys Katelyn Rowe and Terra Castillo Laughton (Systemic Impact Unit) in litigating this appeal.
