Jacobowitz v. Hawthorne CA2/4

Filed 8/22/25 Jacobowitz v. Hawthorne CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

IRWIN JACOBOWITZ et al., B338172

Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 23CHCV01973) v.

RICK HAWTHORNE et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Melvin D. Sandvig, Judge. Affirmed. Irwin Jacobowitz, Pearl H. Jacobowitz, Dakota Jacobowitz, Arizona Jacobowitz, and Montana Jacobowitz, in pro. per., for Plaintiffs and Appellants. No appearance for Defendants and Respondents.

This action arises out of a landlord-tenant dispute. Plaintiffs Irwin Jacobowitz, Pearl H. Jacobowitz, Dakota Jacobowitz, Arizona Jacobowitz, and Montana Jacobowitz (collectively, plaintiffs) sued defendants Rick Hawthorne, Larry Thornton, and Valley View Vaulters, Inc. (collectively, defendants) for allegedly harassing plaintiffs during their tenancy. Plaintiffs allege that defendants engaged in misconduct, including calling the police to report plaintiffs as squatters and filing an unlawful detainer action against them. Plaintiffs appeal from the trial court’s order granting defendants’ special motion to strike portions of plaintiffs’ first amended complaint (FAC) under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 (the anti-SLAPP statute). We conclude plaintiffs have not carried their burden on appeal and affirm the order.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND According to the FAC, plaintiffs sought housing through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program (38 C.F.R. § 62.1). Hawthorne agreed to participate in the SSVF Program as a landlord and approved of plaintiffs moving into a house in Sylmar. Plaintiffs moved into the home in December 2021. Issues immediately arose between plaintiffs and defendants. Among other things, defendants allegedly called to have the “[p]olice [ ] escort the [p]laintiffs off the premises by telling the police that the family w[as] homeless and squatters.” Defendants also allegedly called the “LA County [M]ental Health hotline [to] say that [plaintiffs] [were] crazy people that had to be put away in order to have them removed from the house.”