San Diego

A trial to determine whether New Palace residential hotel tenant Gaetano Spinosa and his dog, Taur, will be evicted to make way for the hotel’s multimillion-dollar renovation, was continued Friday until next week.

Municipal Judge Patricia Cowett granted the continuance until Wednesday so that pretrial motions can be heard. Wendy St. John, the attorney representing hotel manager Cotton Ritchie Corp., said the continuance, requested by Spinosa’s attorney, contributed to a delay that is costing her client “thousands of dollars each month.”

Because the rehab project involves a federal loan, the hotel must pay tenants up to $250 in moving expenses and help them find comparable living quarters--or pay the difference in rent if the new apartment costs more--during the face lift.

Owners and management of the hotel have been trying to evict Spinosa for months. They have offered to pay moving expenses but refuse to make up the difference in rent for a more expensive apartment, which Spinosa may need because of his dog. The New Palace never officially allowed Spinosa to keep the dog, attorneys for the hotel have said.

Spinosa’s attorney, Richard Steiner of the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, moved to force the clarification of some answers to several written questions to Cotton Ritchie Corp., the hotel’s management.