Sheehe v. Kihagi CA2/1

Filed 7/19/16 Sheehe v. Kihagi CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 ONE

JOHN SHEEHE, B259455

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. SC119079) v.

ANNE KIHAGI et al.,

Defendants and Appellants;

CITY OF WEST HOLLYWOOD,

Intervener and Respondent.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Richard A. Stone, Judge. Affirmed. NT Law Group and Julie N. Nong for Defendants and Appellants. Michael Jenkins, City Attorney, and Alison G. Regan, Staff Attorney, for Intervener and Respondent City of West Hollywood. Horvitz & Levy, John A. Taylor, Jr., Scott P. Dixler; Law Offices of Daniel Marquez and Daniel Marquez for Plaintiff and Respondent John Sheehe. ——————————

John Sheehe (Sheehe) and the City of West Hollywood (City) brought this action against Anne Kihagi, 1263 N. Crescent LLC, Aquat 009 LLC, and Nivo-1 LLC (collectively, Kihagi) alleging that Kihagi violated the West Hollywood municipal codes which implement the Ellis Act. The Ellis Act is a California statute setting forth the requirements and conditions under which a landlord may remove rent-controlled rental property from the market in order to exit the rental business. (Gov. Code, §§ 7060– 7060.7.) Kihagi owns a rent-controlled property in West Hollywood and, on July 17, 2008, sent notices pursuant to the Ellis Act to the tenants of the rental property including Sheehe (Ellis notices). The Ellis notices required the tenants to vacate their apartments by November 14, 2008. On October 30, 2008, the City brought a lawsuit against Kihagi alleging, inter alia, violations of the city’s municipal codes which implement the Ellis Act. (Kihagi I) In January 2009, the City and Kihagi entered into a settlement agreement (the settlement agreement) prohibiting Kihagi from re-renting units for a certain period of time. By April 2012, Kihagi had re-rented four of the eight units at market prices rather than rent-controlled prices. The City successfully moved the court to enforce the settlement agreement against Kihagi; Kihagi appealed: the issue in that prior appeal concerned the parties’ different interpretations of the terms of the settlement agreement specifying the period of time Kihagi could not make the units available for rent, to persons other than the evicted tenants, and/or at higher rental rates. After Kihagi filed the notice of appeal in Kihagi I but before we issued our opinion in that case, Sheehe filed this lawsuit on November 15, 2012 wherein he alleged that Kihagi had violated the city’s municipal codes implementing the Ellis Act (Kihagi II). The City intervened in Sheehe’s lawsuit and successfully moved for a preliminary injunction which enjoined Kihagi from re-renting units at the West Hollywood rental property pending trial in Kihagi II. Importantly, Kihagi did not appeal the issuance of the preliminary injunction.