Landlord’s Lawsuit to Evict Rent-Strike Tenants Dismissed

Tenants of a dilapidated Santa Ana apartment building who have staged a four-year rent strike to protest run-down conditions were jubilant Tuesday when a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by their landlord to evict them.

Orange County Municipal Judge Richard W. Stanford dismissed the civil court complaint by Donna Frederiksen against 13 people who occupy six units of her eight-unit building in the 600 block of East Washington Street.

Stanford’s action came on what was supposed to be the first day of trial in the case, but he dismissed the lawsuit when Frederiksen did not show up. Her attorney, Nick O’Malley, said he had been unable to locate her.

Stanford dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled, and also ordered Frederiksen to pay $500 to cover legal expenses incurred by the tenants’ attorney, Richard L. Spix.

Frederiksen contended in court papers that she wanted to evict the tenants so she could demolish the building. But Spix argued that the evictions were in retaliation for the tenants’ organized bid to force repairs to the building by withholding their rents.

The fate of the tenants’ efforts to get plumbing, handrails, stairs and balconies repaired was not immediately clear.

The tenants had been contributing to a rent fund pending resolution of the case.

The building was deeded to Frederiksen by previous owners who formed a trust and named her the trustee. The former owners, Spix said, are targeted--as beneficiaries of the trust--in a separate lawsuit to force repairs to the building. That lawsuit is expected to go to trial in February, Spix said.

In 1984, Santa Ana cracked down on negligent landlords, filing civil and criminal charges against them for building-code violations including exposed wiring, broken plumbing and cockroach infestations. Low-income tenants increased pressure on landlords by staging dozens of rent strikes like the one at 607 E. Washington.

Angered by the city pressure and the rent strikes, some landlords banded together and filed lawsuits in state and federal courts against Santa Ana and two groups who assisted the tenants in their legal fight--Legal Aid Society of Orange County and Hermandad Mexicana Nacional.

The landlords contended that the city and the tenants’ rights groups conspired to violate their civil rights. The federal suits were dismissed, Spix said, but several are pending in Orange County Superior Court.