The long-delayed trials in the eviction cases of the last 13 households in the once 795-unit Lincoln Place apartment complex have now been set for January 9, 2007. The 20-something-year battle between the tenants and successive owners of 52 apartment buildings built in 1950 on 35 acres in Venice may be coming to a de facto conclusion.
The current owner, AIMCO Venezia, wants to further develop the property and so is attempting to remove the remaining tenants. The tenants have various legal challenges pending on appeal, including 54 cases from the last round of evictions now pending in the Appellate Department of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Seven of the original 52 buildings have been demolished. But the cases now set for trial January 9 represent the last tenants on the property. (A 14th household is the subject of a separately pending case.)
On Monday, December 4, Judge Patricia L. Collins denied AIMCO’s motion to reconsider her earlier ruling denying AIMCO’s motion for summary judgments in the cases. That summary judgment motion asked the court to render judgment for AIMCO without a trial on the grounds that there was no factual issue to be tried. Judge Collins ruled that whether AIMCO has acted in good faith in evicting the tenants is a material issue of fact to be determined by a jury.
