Tenant Failed To Assert Claims For Statutory Damages And Fees Under LARSO In The Lawsuit As Required, And The Fees Cap Was Valid.
In 510PacificAve v. Weiss, Case No. B304369 (2d Dist., Div. 4 June 29, 2021) (unpublished), owner of an apartment building in Venice served tenant with notice of a 25% rent increase due to unauthorized occupancy of tenant’s apartment by her boyfriend. The Venice apartment building is subject to the City of Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance (L.A. Mun. Code,1 ch. XV, §§ 151.00 et seq.) (LARSO). When tenant disputed the increase, owner filed a lawsuit seeking declaratory relief regarding the applicability of a paragraph in the parties’ lease permitting such an increase.
Six weeks after the trial court issued its final statement of decision – wherein it found that that the lease paragraph at issue was valid and enforceable to the extent it complies with the requirements of LARSO § 151.06(G), but that the rent increase was unenforceable for exceeding the limits of § 151.06(G) – tenant filed a motion for attorney fees and statutory damages under § 151.10.A (LARSO penalty ordinance mandating damages and fees/costs as determined by the trial court). The trial court denied tenant’s request for both fees and statutory damages on the ground that § 151.10.A. was inapplicable because tenant never filed a cross-complaint or pled a claim for statutory damages. However, the trial court awarded tenant $500 in attorney’s fees, of the more than $71,000 she claimed to have incurred, pursuant to an amendment to the parties’ lease that capped prevailing party attorney fees at $500.
Tenant appealed, and the 2/4 DCA affirmed. Section 151.10.A. requires a defendant claiming statutory damages make the claim in the lawsuit – which tenant did not do – so that landlord’s liability, if any, may be determined at trial. Additionally, the panel found no merit to tenant’s claim that the lease amendment capping attorney fees was statutorily illegal or in violation of LARSO.
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