Barrington Plaza tenants seek nearly $1M in attorneys' fees

LOS ANGELES - Tenants of the Barrington Plaza apartments in West Los Angeles, who won a major victory in July when a judge finalized a ruling finding the building's owners improperly ordered tenants to vacate while never intending to "permanently" remove the units from the rental market, are now seeking nearly $1 million in attorneys' fees.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: West LA Barrington Plaza residents win fight against eviction

The rent-controlled three-tower complex is owned by Douglas Emmett Inc. and Barrington Pacific LLC, which maintained the evictions were necessary to install fire sprinklers and other fire-safety infrastructure in a complex with a history of dangerous fires. But tenants facing eviction sued in 2023, saying the owners were unlawfully using the 1985 Ellis Act to evict all residents, and that the legislation actually was created to allow mom-and-pop landlords to leave the rental business and take the units off the rental market.

In court papers filed Thursday with Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Jay Ford III in advance of a Jan. 30 hearing, the tenants' attorneys state that an award of $925,075 in attorneys' fees is warranted for multiple reasons, including that the plaintiffs' declaratory relief action "enforced important rights affecting the public resulting in the invalidation of hundreds of eviction notices seeking to oust tenants from one of Los Angeles' largest rent stabilized apartment complexes, the largest mass eviction in Los Angeles history."

(FOX 11)

Moreover, a significant benefit has been conferred on the general public because the lawsuit and the decision handed down was well-publicized and clarified that landlords may not seek to evict tenants under the Ellis Act when the owner only intends to displace tenants temporarily in order to make building repairs, according to the tenants' attorneys' court papers.

The tenants had to undertake private legal action because the city of Los Angeles would not file suit on their behalf, according to the tenants' lawyers pleadings.

After a seven-day nonjury trial, Ford found that building owners Barrington Pacific and Douglas Emmett Inc. violated the requirements of the Ellis Act and the city's Rent Stabilization Ordinance because they always envisioned returning the units to the rental market after the renovations were completed, even if those renovations took years to complete.

"Based on the preponderance of the evidence, the court finds on May 8, 2023, when Barrington Pacific filed its Notice of Intent to Withdraw Units from Rental Housing Use with the city and served its notice of termination on its tenants, Barrington Pacific did not intend to permanently remove those apartments from the rental market under the RSO or otherwise intend `to go out of business' as contemplated under the Ellis Act," Ford wrote. "But rather, Barrington Pacific had the intent to `temporarily' withdraw the apartments in Barrington Plaza from rental use with the specific intent to relet those apartments as soon as it completed its planned renovations to all the apartments including installing fire and safety improvements, fire sprinklers, and other modernization upgrades, all which Barrington Pacific planned for and expected would take three to five years to complete."

Tenants' attorney Fran Campbell argued during the trial that a landlord "who is evicting its tenants under the Ellis Act to make repairs is not `going out of business.' It is improving its property so it can increase its rents in the future, which is part of the business of landlording."

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Barrington Plaza tenants facing eviction sue property owner
• Hundreds of West LA tenants face eviction in fire-plagued apartment complex
• Man dies 2 days after highrise apartment fire in West LA
• West LA tenants scrambling to find new homes after apartment complex announces retrofit plans

The defense is appealing Ford's rulings.

In October 2013, a fire erupted on the 11th floor of one of the complex's towers, injuring two people, including a young girl, and displacing 100-150 residents. In January 2020, a fire began on the seventh floor, killing a 19-year-old exchange student from France and injuring about a dozen others, including three firefighters and a 3-month-old child.

Located at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Barrington Avenue in West Los Angeles, eight floors in one of the complex's three towers have been red-tagged and out of service since that 2020 fire. According to the building owners, renovation plans were submitted to the city later that year, but the city's approval was conditioned on installation of sprinklers and other "life- safety equipment" throughout all three towers.

Building owners said last year the renovations were expected to cost more than $300 million. Attorneys for the owners argued during the trial that the renovations would likely mean extensive rebuilding of the buildings' interiors and the apartments, meaning the existing units will essentially be demolished.

Barrington Plaza was built in 1961, prior to the 1974 ordinance requiring sprinklers in new high-rise buildings.