


Home \| Elder Rights \| Health \| Pension Watch \| Rural Aging \| Armed Conflict \| Aging Watch at the UN

	SEARCH	SUBSCRIBE
			Mission \| Contact Us \| Internships \| Donate Now!

Elderly Man Loses Bid To Fight Landlord's Eviction Order

Landlord Wants To Evict Residents To Revamp, Hike Prices

September 19, 2003

LOS ANGELES -- An 88-year-old World War II veteran with emphysema lost a legal bid Friday and now must vacate the Venice apartment where he has lived the past 47 years.

Albert Dunne wanted a Los Angeles judge to void a City Council decision that gave his landlord a hardship exemption to moratoriums against evicting elderly or disabled rent-control tenants.

Dunne's Legal Aid Foundation attorney, Barbara Schultz, argued the Purple Heart recipient did not get "due process" because he was not informed about an April 16 hearing before the City Council.

She wanted Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs to send the matter back to the city panel for a rehearing.

But the judge found nothing wrong with the City Council's decision and said the legislative body is under no responsibility to give an interested party specific notice about meetings.

Deputy City Attorney Shannon Kearns said the City Council's Web site posted notice about the hearing on April 11, "which should have been enough notice" for Dunne.

The judge also found that Dunne attended hearings on Jan. 22 and Feb. 12 in front of the council's Housing and Community Development Committee, which made recommendations on hardship exemptions to the full council.

"How many hearings is (Dunne) entitled to?" the judge asked.

In addition, the judge said Dunne had known since at least January that he would have to find a new home and that she saw "no evidence" that he or his 38-year-old daughter and live-in caretaker Karen had tried to find alternative housing.

No move-out date was given. A separate eviction case is pending.

Dunne called the judge's decision disappointing. He said he is on a fixed income of $1,209 a month, and says his health and age make it difficult to find an affordable apartment.

Schultz said, "It's shocking what disregard the City Council has for people it's supposed to be protecting like Mr. Dunne. It's outrageous (the City Council) didn't give him any notice."

But landlord Todd Flournoy said he repeatedly has told Dunne over the past three years that he wanted him out. Flournoy bought the building in 2000 and said he spent $56,000 to fix it up so he could hike rents.

He wanted Dunne evicted so he could begin revamping it, and said the project had been delayed since last October because of the moratorium.

The landlord claimed he and his three partners are losing $1,200 a month because they have three unoccupied units.

"Do I have to go bankrupt and homeless before I can get relief," he asked the judge.

Flournoy also contends that Dunne has a housing voucher for $1,667 a month and has made no effort to find another place.

Flournoy blamed Dunne's attorneys for the holdup, calling it "Legal Aid's political agenda."

"I don't think (Schultz) even told (Dunne) that he has a housing voucher," Flournoy said outside court. "When we said the (amount of the voucher) they looked shocked."

Flournoy also said he made offers to settle the case, one that would have allowed Dunne to stay until April 1, and another where he offered the octogenarian $10,000 and help finding a new home.