Four Seas Investment Corp. v. Board of Permit Appeals

Opinion

NEWSOM, J.

The appellant Board of Permit Appeals of the City and County of San Francisco (hereinafter Board) and real party in interest International Hotel Tenants’ Association join in this appeal from a judgment of the San Francisco Superior Court in favor of Four Seas Investment Corporation (hereinafter Four Seas). The procedural background is as follows.

On May 12, 1976, Four Seas filed a petition for a writ of mandate seeking to annul the Board’s order of March 17, 1976, ordering the Department of Public Works (hereinafter Department) to deny Four Seas a permit to demolish the International Hotel. After hearings, the trial court ruled that the Board’s order was in excess of its jurisdiction, and on October 7, 1976, granted a peremptory writ of mandate nullifying the order. The instant appeals followed.

Reduced to relevant essentials, the factual context is as follows.

On January 19, 1974, the City and County of San Francisco filed an action against Four Seas’ predecessor in interest to abate the International Hotel as a nuisance. An order to repair or demolish followed, and Four Seas, electing to demolish, applied on January 17, 1975, to the Central Permit Bureau of the Department for the required. permit, which was issued March 10, 1975. On March 18, 1975, International Hotel Tenants’ Association appealed issuance of the permit to the Board, which denied both the appeal and, on April 24, a petition for rehearing.

Thereafter, on August 28, 1975, Four Seas advised the Department it could not proceed with demolition because tenants at the International Hotel refused to vacate, and asked for an extension of time. On

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September 5, 1975, the Department advised Four Seas that the demolition permit “would not be expired pending settlement of litigation.”

On September 17, 1975, counsel for International Hotel Tenants’ Association inquired of the Bureau of Building Inspection as to the legal basis for the extension. On February 26, 1976, International Hotel Tenants’ Association filed with the Board a document entitled “Appeal to Protest Demolition Permit No. 10542,” in which it was alleged inter alia that on February 23, 1976, counsel for International Hotel Tenants’ Association had been advised by the Superintendent of the Bureau of Building Inspection that the demolition permit would be extended “pending settlement of the litigation between Four Seas and International Hotel Tenants’ Association.” As said in the Feburary 26, 1976, “appeal,”