Sonoma County Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog

Chris Smith writes in the Press Democrat that:

There's intrigue at work, and some big names, in the sad story of the forcing out of Santa Rosa's thriving, altruistic Rialto Lakeside independent-films theater.

It seems that David Codding holds the master lease on the Rialto and wants Rialto owner Ky Boyd to continue to operate the wonderful theater to Santa Rosa. But ... nefarious forces are at work. Now Codding's lease is up and so is Boyd's. The building's owner's property manager is Larry Wasem, who is a partner in SR's mainstream theaters - the Roxy and the Airport Cinemas, among others.

Recently he was advised by Duggan's office that a new property manager was coming on — Larry Wasem. That was Boyd's first serious indication that the Rialto was in trouble, because he knew of Wasem's partnership with theater-chain owner Dan Tocchini Jr.

THE HAMMER FELL on March5, the day Boyd received a phone call from Tocchini.

Boyd said Tocchini told him he didn't want him to hear the news from anyone else — the Tocchinis had signed a lease and would be taking over the theater building Sept. 1.

My client rents what would be a very nice home in Petaluma -- except for one problem. When it rains, it pours -- inside the house. The roof leaks like a sieve. As my client says, "When it rains an inch outside, it rains 3/4 of an inch inside!" What has the landlord, Larry Jonas, done about this? He put a tarp on the roof.

How long has the landlord, Larry Jonas, known about this? Years.

What did he do when the tenant complained, heatedly, insistently? Hired Charles T. Jensen to evict my client. We took this case to trial and won -- the judge found that Jonas had violated the implied warranty of habitability and was liable to the tenant for one-third of the contract rent. We were ordered to pay the remaining two-thirds and judgment will be entered in our favor.

What came out in trial was this: Jonas had installed a tarp many years before these tenants moved in. The roof had always leaked. The previous tenants complained. He did nothing. When my clients complained, he did nothing. When they stopped paying rent (not the recommended strategy, by the way), he sued for eviction.

We took the matter to trial and won. A rare and hard-won victory for tenants and a lesson that when the landlord is clearly in the wrong you can win these kinds of cases. Mr. Jonas can look forward to being on the receiving end of a lawsuit now.