Why do tenants' rights cases end up on appeal—and what happens when the Ellis Act gets weaponized? Tenants' rights appellate attorney Fran Campbell joins Jeff Lewis as a guest host while Tim Kowal is on vacation, sharing hard-won insight from landlord-tenant litigation, mobile home park law, and the appellate front lines of California's housing crisis.

Key points:

• The Ellis Act and Barrington Plaza: Campbell's firm challenged Douglas Emmett's attempt to invoke the Ellis Act to remove roughly 750 tenants, raising a statutory interpretation question under Gov. Code § 7060.7.
• Supersedeas strategy: Collecting rent from remaining tenants while an appeal is pending may inadvertently create new periodic tenancies — a risk Campbell says practitioners often overlook.
• Berk v. Choy: The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling could further erode California's anti-SLAPP protections in federal court, with significant implications for practitioners.
• Social media as abuse: A June 2026 Second District opinion holds that social media conduct can qualify as cognizable abuse under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act.
• Conflict waivers and fee agreements: Failing to obtain a conflict waiver can void not just a fee agreement but its arbitration clause too — per Jane Doe v. McGrath.

Tenants' rights practitioners: Have you faced an Ellis Act claim where the landlord's intent was the deciding issue? Share your experience in the comments.

One California city has been quietly collecting $5,000-per-incident fines from short-term vacation rental owners. And if the regime is struck down, the city may owe half a million dollars back.

Former constitutional law attorney David Koslow joins Tim Kowal and Jeff Lewis to break down two Appellate Division challenges that expose a structural flaw in how cities administer and collect STVR fines, and why SEC v. Jarkesy may be the tool that finally pries these cases open.

Key points:

• The $1,000 cap hiding in plain sight: Government Code §36901 sets a default $1,000 ceiling on city fines—but Cathedral City and several other Coachella Valley municipalities have been imposing $5,000 first-offense STVR penalties for years.
• Forfeiture swallowed the first case whole: In Montanaro v. City of Cathedral City, the pro per defendant said the fine was "draconian"—but never said "excessive fines clause." The Court of Appeal dismissed on forfeiture. “Draconian,” says the court, is not the same as “excessive.” 🧐
• Jarkesy goes local—maybe: SEC v. Jarkesy (2024) held that the Seventh Amendment requires a jury-trial forum when the government chooses between administrative and court proceedings for civil penalties. Cathedral City can prosecute STVR violations as misdemeanors in court or through an administrative citation—which, says Koslow, is exactly the kind of forum election Jarkesy targets.
• The vendor-as-judge problem: Data Ticket, Inc.—a private company that collects the city's fines—also supplies the hearing officers who adjudicate them. The structural conflict is not subtle, and it has already spawned its own litigation.
• Pro per litigants are walking into a trap: STVR fines are deliberately calibrated below the cost of hiring an attorney, yet high enough to hurt. The result is a steady stream of self-represented defendants making fatal procedural errors that appellate counsel cannot fix.
• The Coastal Commission wrinkle: Coastal cities face a distinct constraint—the Commission treats STVR bans as restrictions on public coastal access, effectively foreclosing outright prohibitions in the coastal zone.

If you advise cities on enforcement program design, represent property owners facing administrative fines, or litigate issues of constitutional preservation and forfeiture, this episode is required listening before your next city council meeting or appellate brief.

Why do writ petitions so often fail? Judge Tom Fay covers the technical writ rules that attorneys often overlook. In part 2 of our conversation with former lead writs attorney at the Santa Ana Court of Appeal, Judge Fay covers the CRC 8.486 and local rule requirements for your writ petition, the available remedies for a writ petition—Palma notice, alternative writ, or OSC—and the underappreciated complexity of supersedeas.

Key points:

• STAY REQUESTED must be on the cover—in bold, all caps: This single line triggers immediate routing to writ staff.
• Palma, alternative writ, OSC each signal something different: A suggestive Palma notice generally means the panel agrees with the petitioner; an OSC may mean the panel wants to write a published opinion and could lean toward the trial court.
• Alternative writs are not law of the case: Roullier v. Cannondale, 101 Cal.App.4th 1180—a trial court that complies with an alternative writ can still be reversed on appeal.
• Supersedeas is a motion for stay, not a true original proceeding: Veyna v. Orange County Nursery, Inc. (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 146.

Appellate lawyers: what else is on your emergency writ checklist?