Legal Victory: Case Publication on Survivor’s Eviction Defense

On August 11, the Appellate Division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court issued its opinion in our case of Elmassian v. Flores, where we represented a survivor of domestic violence who was evicted from her home for over a decade because of acts of abuse by former intimate partners. In the opinion, the appellate division agreed with us that our client had provided the trial court with correct documentation to show she was a survivor and enough evidence that the landlord’s complaints were based on acts of domestic violence to raise the domestic violence eviction defense, which generally bans landlords from evicting tenants because of act(s) of abuse against a tenant by a person who is not currently a tenant. The appellate division reversed the trial court’s judgment against our client. FVAP co-counseled this case with Basta, Inc. and Jones Day.