Was landlord retaliating in bid to evict 16-year rent-controlled tenant?
By DAVE DANFORTH Daily Press Staff Writer
Subhead: Was landlord retaliating in bid to evict 16-year tenant?
By Dave Danforth
Daily Press Staff Writer
It all came to a head over a cat named George.
Then the unique Santa Monica eviction case exploded into a full-blown jury trial, with allegations of hidden video cameras, forged documents, stolen mail, and missing cash.
Never mind that Jill Shively had lived in her rent-controlled one-bedroom apartment at 20th Street and California Avenue for 16 years, or that Abbas “Joe” Joukar had owned the building for 12 years. It really went downhill rapidly after George’s reward money — $150 — turned up missing June 1.
The Santa Monica jury in Judge Diana Wheatley’s courtroom is set to begin deliberating in Superior Court today after a three-day trial.
Between conflicting testimony, high emotion and sparring lawyers, it may come down to a question of whom the jury believes. One of the jurors even wondered aloud why the case wasn’t in small claims court.
Building owner Joukar formally delivered a three-day eviction notice on June 4. It alleged that Shively, and her domestic partner Bob Kirby, had created an atmosphere of distrust and fear at the eight-unit complex.
But Shively and Kirby aren’t going down without a fight. They deny the charges, and say that Joukar is retaliating for a laundry list of complaints they made about the place, their contacts with the rent control board, and even an incident in which Shively took a tumble on some wet tiles six years ago and cost Joukar, who was without insurance, $25,000.
Then, in a rent-control town like Santa Monica, there are financial stakes, although they might appear meager compared to the cost of the three-day legal circus staged last week before Judge Wheatley’s jurors.
Shively and Kirby pay $670 per month between them, while their apartment would fetch $1,195 on the open market, Joukar said. The tenants say the difference — $6,300 per year — explains both Joukar’s bid to kick them out and their fight to stop him from getting rid of them so he can raise the rent.
Joukar points to other, neighboring tenants like Michael Edwards and Christina Signorello, who say they feel so uncomfortable around Shively and Kirby that they are taking off for their native New Hampshire to await the outcome of the case.
On June 1, Edwards and Signorello found the owner of a lost cat, George, who had made his home with them. They declined an offer from owner Amber Williamson for the $150 reward, but Signorello testified that Williamson sent over a card anyway. When they went to read the card, Signorello said it and the rest of some mail she’d left in her mailbox were gone.
Edwards and Signorello, his girlfriend, said Kirby became unusually defense when they approached him about the missing card. Signorello said Kirby told her, “if you’re looking for the money, I think Jill (Shively) went to spend it.”
From there, neighborly relations spiraled downhill. The postman, Neal McCabe, said he hadn’t been by earlier that day. The police were called. And Kirby allegedly told Edwards, “things get stolen here all the time.”
Kirby supposedly told Edwards he was an “idiot” and “arrogant.” Three weeks later, Edwards said Kirby demanded an explanation for furniture Shively and Kirby alleged Edwards and Signorello had stolen from their porch. Signorello said she found a rocking chair and dresser behind the apartment, next to the trash near the rear alley, and brought them inside to fix up.
The apartments at 20th and California are modest. Shively is a paralegal for the non-profit So. California Indian Center in Los Angeles. Signorello is a pre-school teacher, while Edwards, a radio news reporter by trade, has a Screen Actors Guild membership but not much action. Kirby is a part-time geography professor.
Joukar said he felt a responsibility to his “family” of tenants, and decided that Shively had to go, particularly with Kirby’s recent arrival (domestic partners are protected from rental increases under rent control law).
He pointed to Edwards’ statement that the pair had three sets of video cameras, one reportedly trained on their bedroom.
The law states that Joukar can legally evict his tenants if they have “substantially interfered” with the “comfort, safety and enjoyment” of others, Judge Wheatley instructed the jury. She also told jurors that stolen mail is a crime, but that they had to decide not only whether Kirby stole mail or the $150, but also whether if he did, the act would cause a normal person to become “substantially annoyed.”
Tenant Shively portrayed landlord Joukar as a one-time friend who appeared less willing, over time, to fix up his apartments. Joukar came to the U.S. from Iran and made good with only a limited education. In her view, he wasn’t a quintessentially bad landlord, but rather an owner who was in over his head. Her list of complaints included holes in the apartment and a heater which didn’t work.
Joukar’s lawyer, Rosario Perry, needled Shively for the supposed gravity of her complaints. The jury laughed when he remarked, “They want you to think it’s a death zone. Why does she want to stay in it if she’s going to be dead in a few weeks?”
But a legitimate defense to an eviction action is that the landlord is “retaliating” for tenant complaints. Joukar said he didn’t receive most of Shively’s complaints.
Similarly, a mysterious lease which Joukar said he’d never seen showed up during the trial, between Shively and a rental agent. Joukar and Perry argued that it was a forgery, and noted a typed “B” on it was similar to the “B” on Shively’s typewriter. The lease was faked, Perry charged, to include a phrase that would let Shively recover lawyer fees, making a trial worthwhile.
Shively and Kirby’s attorney, Matthew Schwartz, belittled Edwards, attempting to attack his credibility by making fun of his relative unemployment (to which he replied, “we’re supporting ourselves wonderfully off her teaching job.”) He also ridiculed as preposterous a claim that Kirby would go out of his way to steal mail. Joukar was conducting a campaign of harassment, he alleged, and the owner’s eviction bid showed his “malicious intent.”
The 12-member jury took the emotion of the case in stride. On Friday, they attracted notice around the Santa Monica Courthouse by agreeing to arrive decked out in Hawaiian “luau” shirts. Judge Wheatley read them an e-mail which indicated several others in the building were curious about the attire in her courtroom.
There are four landlords and eight tenants sitting on the jury. In a civil case such as an eviction, nine of the 12 jurors must agree.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 16, 2002. Read the original PDF.