Glass v. Najafi

Opinion

SWAGER, J. This is an appeal from a judgment for the defendants in an action for forcible entry and detainer filed by tenants who were evicted under an invalid writ of possession. We affirm.

Procedural History

The complaint for forcible entry and detainer was filed on December 23, 1996, by the tenants of commercial property, Bruce Glass, Christine Glass, [47]and Sue Craik (the Glasses), against defendants consisting of the owners of the property, Mahmood Ghazi and Ahmad Ghazi (the landlords) and their property managers, Reza Najafi and Paradise Properties, Inc. (the property managers). Three days earlier, the court had granted the tenants’ motion to recall and quash a writ of possession under which the tenants had been forcibly evicted from the premises by the sheriff. The circumstances surrounding the eviction have a lengthy history involving a former appeal.1

The landlords acquired 413-425 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, California, through a foreclosure sale transferring title from the former owners, the Glasses, who managed a toy shop on the premises. On November 12, 1993, the Glasses filed a complaint against both the landlords and the property managers, which sought inter alia specific enforcement of an option to reacquire the property. The landlords responded by filing a complaint for unlawful detainer against the Glasses.

At a court-supervised settlement conference on December 23, 1994, the parties reached a settlement agreement and read the terms of the agreement into the record in open court. The court retained jurisdiction to enforce the agreement. The parties were, however, unable to redact the terms of the settlement into a formal written agreement. On April 28, 1995, the Glasses filed a motion to compel enforcement of a draft agreement reflecting their understanding of the settlement and for judgment under Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6. The court appointed a referee “for the purpose of holding hearing(s), making findings as to the parties’ compliance as to the terms of the settlement agreement reached in this action and to make recommendations to the Court as to the enforcement of such settlement.”

On March 13, 1996, the referee filed a final report that, among other things, found that the Glasses were jointly and severally liable in the sum of $28,530.20, representing underpayments in rent, the referee fees, and attorney fees. On the same day, the court entered a judgment pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 664.6 that awarded the landlords and the property managers the sum of $28,530.20 and ordered that an attached “Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release shall be entered as the Judgment of this Court.” The attached settlement agreement called for dismissal with prejudice of existing lawsuits between the parties, including the landlords’ unlawful detainer action, prescribed terms for a lease of the Miller Avenue property, commencing retroactively on January 1, 1995, and continuing for 27 months until March 31, 1997, and gave the Glasses an option to purchase the property on specified terms and conditions.