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# City Hall employs new tactic in legal battle with landlord
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-employs-new-tactic-in-legal-battle-with-landlord/
- Published: 2004-06-30T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:40:33.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Real Estate & Housing, Downtown, #archive-import

*Prosecutors use California’s unfair competition law to sue land owner for allegedly harassing his tenants*

DOWNTOWN — Prosecutors have used a state business law to sue a local landlord for the first time, alleging he repeatedly harassed his tenants over the past four years, it was announced Tuesday.

The lawsuit accuses Isaac Gabriel, 73, of charging too much in rent, illegally entering apartments, using bodily force against a tenant, stealing a renter’s satellite TV dish, attempted fraud, and illegally taking away a tenant’s laundry facilities and cable TV.

> “All these allegations are incorrect, and I will go and get a lawyer to fight the city,”

> “We’ll see who’s going to win the case and who’s going to pay money.” — he said

Gabriel was sued under California’s unfair competition law, which targets illegal and fraudulent business practices. Prosecutors said they called upon the law because it allows for stiff penalties and a permanent injunction, which would explicitly ban the illegal behavior.

“Mr. Gabriel has consistently thumbed his nose at City Hall, the courts and the law itself,” said Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky, who has pursued Gabriel in the past. “He’s the rare landlord for whom the unfair competition law is the best remedy.”

Gabriel maintained his innocence Tuesday and pledged to fight City Hall. He said a handful of tenants have complained because they want to live virtually free under rent control.

This isn’t the first time City Hall has targeted Gabriel. He was convicted in 1998 of locking out and confiscating property from a Japanese immigrant tenant who spoke little English. Both of those charges were misdemeanors, and Gabriel, who represented himself at trial, was sentenced to 30 days of house arrest and 480 hours of community service.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/063004-01_01-7.jpg)

Prosecutors are suing Isaac Gabriel, the landlord of this 10-unit building on Fifth Street downtown, over alleged tenant harassment. (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 30, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/063004.pdf?ref=smdp.com)