Attorney Frances Miller Campbell's Legal Cases

Landlord or tenant

Eldridge v. Village Trailer Park, Inc.

Mar 21, 2013

OUTCOME: Judgment for Plaintiff

Plaintiff was a long-term tenant of the Village Trailer Park in Santa Monica. In the year 2000, she was one of the Plaintiffs in another action against the Village Trailer Park relating to habitability ... of the Park. In 2003, in that action, she reached a settlement with Village Trailer Park, Inc., which included an agreement that the Park would “take no action at all which would in any way cause [Catherine Eldridge] to have to move her home” or “in any way affect the use of her space;” and that Village Trailer Park, Inc. would not “move the plaintiff on the issue of lot lines or for any other reason absent legal requirement.” In 2006, Village Trailer Park, LLC purchased an interest in the Village Trailer Park with a view to closing the trailer park and redeveloping the Santa Monica property on which it sat. Village Trailer Park, Inc., and Village Trailer Park, LLC, and real estate developer Marc Luzzatto began taking actions to try to close the park and evict all the residents, including the Plaintiff, to make way for a mixed-use development. In 2011, Plaintiff filed a lawsuit for declaratory and injunctive relief, seeking a declaration that Defendants could not evict her from the Park even though they wanted to develop the property. Plaintiff contended that her 2003 agreement with Village Trailer Park, Inc. barred Defendants from attempting to evict her from the Village Trailer Park to make way for redevelopment. Defendants contended that the 2003 agreement did not bar them from evicting Plaintiff or closing the trailer park. Result: After a two-day bench trial, the Court found that the defendants were bound by the agreement they entered into with the Plaintiff in 2003 and therefore were barred from terminating Plaintiff's lease for any reason. Months following the issuance of the Court’s statement of decision, the defendants fired their attorney and hired new attorneys, who took the position that the trial had not been completed, and that only the “first phase” of the trial had been tried. They filed a motion for leave to file an amended Cross-Complaint and amend their Answer to the Complaint. The Motion was denied. The lawsuit changed the shape of the development. Because of the outcome of the trial, part of Village Trailer Park is being preserved. A 10-space mini-park, which includes Catherine Eldridge’s mobilehome space, will adjoin the mixed-use development on the site of the Village Trailer Park. On November 5, 2013, the Court awarded Plaintiff’s counsel $146,970.00 in attorney’s fees. The developers appealed, and the Judgment was affirmed on appeal.

Landlord or tenant

Conkling v. Esquivel

Dec 27, 2012

OUTCOME: $109,000.00

Plaintiff Lucienne Conkling, an 88-year-old woman, lived alone in an apartment in Santa Monica. She rented the apartment for $1,000 per month from defendant Theresa Esquivel. Conkling reported a loos ... e floor tile in her kitchen to defendant Roque & Mark, the management company for the defendant owner. Conkling, who used a cane, later slipped on the loose tile, causing her to jam her shoulder against the wall. She filed suit against her landlord and the management company. Plaintiff’s Contentions: Conkling claimed that defendants sent someone to fix the loose tile, which was repaired, but not well. Conkling’s request for a second repair was ignored. After she reported the accident to the property management company, Conkling’s rent was raised $200 per month, a rent that she could not afford on her low fixed income. Plaintiff contended that the defendants were negligent in not repairing the floor tile, and that the accident injured her shoulder such that she needed reverse total shoulder replacement surgery. However, her primary care physician believed that Conkling was too old to have the surgery, and was attempting to manage Conkling’s pain with medication. Plaintiff’s counsel also contended that the rent increase imposed after Conkling reported her injury was retaliatory. Defendants’ Contentions: Defendants contended that Conkling’s shoulder problems were caused by advanced age, rather than the accident. Result: The parties settled for $109,000 following a mediation conducted by Max Factor, III. Other Information: Plaintiff’s counsel succeeded in reducing Conkling’s rent by $200 per month prior to filing a lawsuit for personal injury damages.

Landlord or tenant

Karapetian v. David

Dec 03, 2012

OUTCOME: Settlement $127,000.00

Plaintiffs were evicted from their rent-controlled apartment for the stated purpose of having a new manager move into their unit. After they moved out, no new manager moved into their unit. Instead, th ... e landlord re-rented their unit out for market rent. The tenants discovered the fraud and sued.

Landlord or tenant

Wong v. Wong

Aug 24, 2012

OUTCOME: Landlord lost--tenant's rent remains at $100 per month.

The tenant was an elderly woman living in an apartment building originally owned by her father in law. Her rent started at $80.00 and was raised to $100 in the 1980s. She stopped paying rent while her ... husband managed the building. When he died, his evil brother tried to evict her, even though the apartment was rent-controlled, on the theory that she could be evicted because she never paid rent (although he knew that she had in the past). The tenant's family found some rent ledgers from the 1990s that showed that she had paid rent in the past. Evil brother-in-law claimed that they were forged, and it was difficult to prove they were authentic because the person who wrote the ledgers passed away.

Landlord or tenant

Lulla v. J.L. Montana Apts., LLC

Apr 11, 2012

OUTCOME: Stipulated judgment in the amount of 49,933.80

The tenant's apartment was infested with bedbugs, due to a serious bedbug problem that started in the apartment below her. The tenant sued for damages associated with the bites and emotional distress.

Landlord or tenant

Confidential v. Turner

Mar 01, 2011

OUTCOME: Settlement

Plaintiffs sued landlords and their downstairs neighbors because Plaintiffs' neighbors smoke marijuana and other non-tobacco products in their apartment beneath the Plaintiffs' apartment, and refuse to ... smoke outside, endangering the health of one of the Plaintiffs. One of the Plaintiffs had severe heart and lung problems and could not be exposed to second-hand smoke of any type. The neighbors refuse to modify their behavior and the landlords refused to evict the downstairs neighbors for nuisance. Plaintiffs sued the landlords for maintaining a nuisance, and for violating Plaintiff's rights as a disabled person. Plaintiffs sued the neighbors for creating a nuisance and for battery.

Landlord or tenant

Saltzman v. Leman

Feb 23, 2011

OUTCOME: Settled for $190,000

A 94-year-old tenant was forced to leave her apartment of 50 years after two toilets overflowed in her unit, damaging it and the unit below her. Although the young and healthy tenants living in the do ... wnstairs unit were relocated to another apartment owned by the landlords, the 94-year-old tenant was forced to move to a hotel. The landlord told her lawyer that the tenant would not be allowed to return to her apartment (in violation of law). After 3 months, she was returned to her apartment, but by then had lost the ability to function independently and now needs 24 hour care.

Landlord or tenant

O'Sullivan v. Top City Management Co.

Sep 24, 2010

OUTCOME: Settled for $190,000

Apartment complex that rents primarily to USC students was infested with bedbugs, but didn't tell the tenants moving in. Tenants were accused of bringing in the bedbugs, but the management knew that th ... is was false. Tenants subjected to bedbug bites for six weeks, while the management either denied there was a problem or used ineffective methods to treat the bedbugs.

Landlord or tenant

Cho v. Chock

Sep 07, 2010

OUTCOME: tenants not evicted

Landlord/mother of tenant doesn't like her tenant/son's wife and has repeatedly tried to evict the couple. This time, she filed a false police report accusing the son of pulling a gun on her, and trie ... d to evict the couple on the ground that her son made a death threat against her. After a jury saw the history of angry letters between the mother and the son, always ending "Why don't you move?", and heard the mother's inconsistent testimony, they knew the mother was lying about the gun. Jury voted 10-2 in favor of the son and his wife.

Landlord or tenant

Smith v. Beyond Shelter

Dec 03, 2009

OUTCOME: Resolved on confidential terms

Beyond Shelter, a charity that is supposed to help the homeless become self-sufficient, gave a couple with a new baby a one-day notice to vacate an apartment. When the couple refused to move on one da ... y's notice, Beyond Shelter forcibly evicted them to make way for a new family. Beyond Shelter lost or threw away a lot of the couple's valuable papers and other belongings. Ironically, the couple and their newborn ended up homeless. Defense counsel threatened during the trial to have criminal charges brought against the family, and actually met with the District Attorney to try to convince him to file charges. Trial started in December 2009, and the case "resolved" during jury selection for a confidential amount of money.

Frances Miller Campbell's Legal Cases (23)

Eldridge v. Village Trailer Park, Inc.

Conkling v. Esquivel

Karapetian v. David

Wong v. Wong

Lulla v. J.L. Montana Apts., LLC

Confidential v. Turner

Saltzman v. Leman

O'Sullivan v. Top City Management Co.

Cho v. Chock

Smith v. Beyond Shelter