Jaroslava Liska says she was pressured into plea agreement
After nearly a year of silence, a local landlord who was recently convicted of criminal tenant harassment said Monday her tenants are lying about her alleged discrimination against them.
But now that she has been convicted criminally, it remains to be seen whether or not Jaroslava Liska can escape the charges levied in a civil lawsuit against her.
Liska, who has owned the building at 1711 Delaware Ave. for 16 years, was sued in January by a Mexican-American family and a black mother of five children. In the civil suit, the Latino family accuses Liska of trying to force them out so she could raise the rent. And Aricka Traylor said Liska refused to rent an apartment to her because she’s black.
Until recently, Liska was represented by attorney Eric Meller, who declined to comment on the allegations. But with Santa Monica attorney Rosario Perry, who specializes in landlord-tenant disputes, now representing her, Liska said she’s confident she will prevail in court.
However, Liska raised some doubt about her innocence when she pleaded no contest in August to criminal charges levied by City Hall. Her plea also has raised some question about how it will affect the civil lawsuit against her.
Although attorneys for the families said they have a strong enough case without using the criminal charges, they will ask the court to consider them. However, Perry said he will ask that the criminal matter be dropped entirely.
Liska said she pleaded no contest because her former attorney advised her to. Fighting the charges would have meant thousands of dollars in legal fees and an uncertain outcome, she added.
Liska was sentenced to serve three years of probation and ordered to pay $5,530 in fines. She pleaded no contest to two of five criminal counts against her under the city’s tenant harassment ordinance. The law was passed by the City Council in 1995 to protect tenants from landlords seeking to profit illegally from vacancy decontrol, which allows landlords to raise the rent to market rate on rent-controlled units when tenants move out.
Lawyers for the Vivanco family, who pay $654 for their two-bedroom unit, accuse Liska in a 200-page federal lawsuit of trying to force the Mexican-American family out of their rent-controlled apartment. They claim she yelled at the four Vivanco children, forbade them from playing outside and repeatedly overcharged the family in rent.
But Liska, a native of eastern Europe who rents an apartment on San Vicente Boulevard, said she has only spoken to the Vivanco children twice. The first time was when music coming from the apartment was so loud she couldn’t talk to a contractor doing repair work. The other was when she was touring an adjacent apartment with a possible renter and the kids were bouncing a ball against the wall.
3AC,“You consider that harassment?” she said. “I am a gentle person. I never hurt anybody, I never discriminate against anybody.”
“I am a gentle person. I never hurt anybody, I never discriminate against anybody.” — — JAROSLAVA LISKA Landlord
Liska said she also posted a sign forbidding people from playing in the parking lot area because she was worried the kids would get hurt and she would be sued. When the family didn’t obey the rules, Meller in December of 2002 sent them a 30-day eviction notice.
Liska said Traylor, who is suing her for allegedly denying her rental application because of her race, also is lying. She said the apartment wasn’t even on the market when Traylor says she wanted to rent it.
Perry characterized the lawsuit against Liska as a money-making opportunity for the Vivancos and said they are asking for $500,000 to settle it.
“The whole thing is preposterous,” he said.
Dario Navarro, one of the Vivancos lawyers, declined to comment on the settlement negotiations. He reiterated his commitment to trying the case in court.
715,“If there was one thread of truth in Mr. Perry’s statement, one would imagine that they would have challenged the criminal complaints, where the highest standard of proof is required,” he said. “The record in the case speaks for itself... this landlord has acted in a highly discriminative behavior towards people with children and people of color.”
Navarro, who is joined by lawyer Denise McGranahan from the nonprofit Legal Aid Foundation on the case, said he expects Gary Rhoades, the former head of litigation for the Southern California Housing Rights Center, to also join the case in the next three weeks.
“It shows how strong this case is,” he said, adding that there are sworn statements from other tenants, nearby neighbors and others who verify the Vivancos’ story.
The civil case is scheduled to go before a federal judge in April.
While the legal wrangling plays out in the months leading up to the trial, the Vivanco family continues to rent the two-bedroom apartment in the Delaware Avenue building. The Vivancos are the last Latino family in the building and the last tenants who are protected by low rent-control rates, according to the lawsuit.
Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky, who prosecuted Liska on the criminal charges, said the case against Liska is unusually strong.
“What made this case different was the words coming out of the owner’s own mouth confirming her state of mind — which is that she didn’t want family with children living in the building,” he said. “Often, owners are more sophisticated in trying to hide their discrimination.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 21, 2003. Read the original PDF.