Father Loses Court Fight to Stop Son’s Evicting Him From House

An 81-year-old man lost a court fight Friday to prevent his son from evicting him from a house in Orange that he once owned.

Municipal Judge Richard W. Stanford Jr. told Luis Vaca Gallardo that he owes his son, Felipe Vaca Hernandez, 62, $2,620 in unpaid rent and that his son has a right to evict him.

Luis Gallardo and his daughter Lucille, who lives with him in the three-bedroom house, have until Monday to move, said the son’s attorney, Richard J. Politiski of Santa Ana.

“If they are not out by Monday, we will have the marshals go out and evict them,” Politiski said.

The judge, in an apologetic tone, explained the ruling to Gallardo and then wished him luck.

“Mr. Gallardo, I don’t know what to tell you or what sympathy I can give you. But your son is entitled to the rent and to have you vacated from the premises. Good luck to you, sir,” Stanford said.

Gallardo’s daughter Lucille Gallardo, 42, a nurse, said, “I don’t know what we’re going to do or where we’re going to go.” Lucille Gallardo said that she injured her foot and hasn’t worked since May and that her father receives about $400 a month in Social Security.

The dispute stems from a family feud. Seven of Gallardo’s daughters have sided with their brother, and two have sided with their father, an admitted recovering alcoholic.

“My father’s a sick man who has worked all these years, and he can’t take care of himself anymore. I love my father,” said Lucille Gallardo, who has lived in the rented house with him for eight years.

However, another daughter said: “Don’t ask me anything about that man. I’ve disowned him.” The other sisters declined comment.

Court records show that Gallardo’s drinking problems began after he and his wife, Concepcion Hernandez, gave the deed for their house at 248 S. Park St. to their son in 1951.

Luis Gallardo testified Friday that, in return, his son agreed to help care for and support him for the rest of his life.

Felipe Hernandez denied that such an agreement was made, however. He is caring for his mother, who was divorced from Gallardo in 1954 and who now lives across the street from her ex-husband.

Politiski argued in the court in Santa Ana that Luis Gallardo’s claim regarding an agreement was irrelevant because he had legally turned over the property to his son, a point Gallardo’s attorney, Gary Appel of Santa Ana, did not contest.

Outside the courtroom, Luis Gallardo said that he and his wife bought the house in the 1930s. The trouble began 12 years later when Felipe, then 17, arrived from Mexico to live with his parents. At the time, Luis was picking oranges and lemons in the county’s groves and Concepcion was working in packinghouses.

Lucille Gallardo said her brother resented the fact that his father had left him in Mexico to be raised by his maternal grandparents, whose surname is Hernandez. Felipe has rejected his father’s surname.

According to court records, Luis Gallardo said he started to drink in 1954. “From 1959 to 1976 I was an alcoholic and resided with friends,” Gallardo said in a sworn statement.

Lucille Gallardo found him in 1976 and helped him overcome his drinking problem, according to the court file. Two years later, his son agreed to let him move into the house for $300 a month.

But beginning last March, Luis Gallardo said, his son refused to accept the rent money. Lucille Gallardo said that Hernandez wanted to bring in two families and raise the rent to $900. On July 29, Luis Gallardo said, he received a 30-day notice to move. His attorney won a temporary restraining order blocking the eviction until the matter could be argued in court.