Attorney Frances Miller Campbell's Legal Cases

Landlord or tenant

Cameron v. Las Orchidias Properties, LLC

Aug 22, 2022

OUTCOME: $900,000, including appellate attorney fees and costs

An elderly tenant was evicted from her long-term apartment under the Ellis Act. Her landlords decided to go back into the rental business but, in violation of law, refused to re-rent to the tenant. The ... tenant sued her landlord for violation of the Ellis Act regulations contained within the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance and for financial elder abuse. The trial court found in favor of the tenant and awarded her $750,134.76. The landlords appealed, and the Court of Appeal affirmed, in a published decision resolving an important question regarding interpretation of the re-rental rights of displaced tenants under the Ellis Act.

Landlord or tenant

Ungar v. Foundation for Affordable Housing

Dec 18, 2017

OUTCOME: Confidential Settlement

Twenty-one tenants in a senior apartment complex sued their landlord for re-piping the building and not moving them off-site during the construction. The tenants complained of water interruption, and c ... onstruction noise and dust, which was ongoing for nearly a year.

Landlord or tenant

Moschitta v. Norwood

Jul 05, 2017

OUTCOME: Settlement-$375,000

Two real estate brokers purchased the 5-unit compound in West Hollywood where the plaintiff resided in a rent-controlled 2-bedroom house, for which he paid less than $900 per month. The fair market val ... ue of the house was $2900 per month. The brokers evicted the tenant claiming that they needed to move into his house, a permissible reason under the rent-control law. Then they did not move in. After the lawsuit was filed and they were served, they started remodeling and moved in. The tenant claimed they never intended to move in, and that they evicted him simply to raise the value of the property for a future sale.

Civil rights

Roberts v. Kiafar

Nov 23, 2016

OUTCOME: Confidential settlement

Disabled tenant who was repeatedly threatened with eviction for having three emotional support animals sued her landlords for damages

Civil rights

Smith v. Vanowen Canoga Apartments, LLC

Oct 08, 2015

OUTCOME: $185,000.00 settlement

A tenant with stage four cancer had her daughter move into her apartment to help take care of her. The landlord raised the tenant's rent $200 per month for having an "extra occupant." When the tenant p ... rotested that the "extra occupant" was a caregiver necessary to take care of her, the landlord wrote her a letter telling her that her daughter was not an "approved" caretaker and to move out to a "facility" that could accommodate her needs. When the tenant refused to pay the extra $200 per month, the landlord attempted (unsuccessfully) to evict the tenant. The tenant filed a federal lawsuit because of the landlord's refusal to grant her a reasonable accommodation by allowing her daughter to reside in her apartment rent free for the purpose of caring for her.

Civil rights

Petrosyan v. Hustedt

Oct 02, 2015

OUTCOME: Confidential settlement

20 tenants and former tenants of an apartment building in North Hollywood sued their landlord and property manager for discriminating against them based on their national origin (Armenia). The tenants ... alleged that the landlord engaged in a scheme to rid the apartment building of Armenians and in fact succeeded in eliminating half of the Armenian tenants by locking them out, denying them repairs and services, insulting them, stealing from them, and refusing to accept rental applications from Armenian applicants

Landlord or tenant

Tenant v. Confidential Landlords and Managers

Jul 20, 2015

OUTCOME: Settled for $458,600.00

Eight tenants in a 3 units in a four-unit complex in San Bernardino County sued for breach of the implied warranty of habitability and retaliatory eviction after their large, institutional landlord ref ... used to make repairs, even after being ordered to do so by the City for two years. Once the City threatened to take legal action against the landlord, the landlord evicted the tenants under false pretenses.

Landlord or tenant

WIB Holdings v. Aron

Feb 04, 2015

OUTCOME: Judgment for tenant

A landlord in Santa Monica attempted to evict its extremely-low-rent-paying tenant by falsely stating that he had remodeled his apartment without permission. In fact, he had made improvements to his ap ... artment (adding granite countertops and a new sink 4 years earlier, and retiling his bathroom 17 years earlier) with the landlord's permission. The landlord demanded that the tenant return the apartment to its "original" condition, i.e., the condition it was in in 1991. The jury saw through this obvious attempt to displace the tenant so the landlord could raise the rent $1,500 per month.

Landlord or tenant

Simmons v. Sentirmay

Oct 09, 2014

OUTCOME: $200,000.00

Two landlords evicted their long-term tenant on the representation that their son was going to move into the apartment. The son never moved in. Eight years later, the tenant discovered she had been def ... rauded, and brought suit for damages.

Landlord or tenant

Phelps v. Bishop

Nov 19, 2013

OUTCOME: $206,500.00

A elderly woman on a fixed income lived in an apartment building that was inherited by the building's handyman. As soon as the handyman took control of the building, he started a campaign of harassment ... to get her to leave. The woman's apartment was rent-stablized, and she paid around $900 per month. The apartment was worth $1800 per month. Eventually, the landlord simply turned off her water and gas to force her to leave. She was forced to move to a much smaller apartment in a dangerous neighborhood. A jury awarded her $154,500. in damages. The Court awarded an additional $106,000 in attorneys' fees to the judgment.

Frances Miller Campbell's Legal Cases (23)

Cameron v. Las Orchidias Properties, LLC

Ungar v. Foundation for Affordable Housing

Moschitta v. Norwood

Roberts v. Kiafar

Smith v. Vanowen Canoga Apartments, LLC

Petrosyan v. Hustedt

Tenant v. Confidential Landlords and Managers

WIB Holdings v. Aron

Simmons v. Sentirmay

Phelps v. Bishop