Latino tenants sued their landlord. A lawyer told | Real Estate news

In her total law profession, Sarah McCracken has never seen something like the e-mail she obtained on June 25.

McCracken, a tenants’ rights lawyer at Tobener Ravenscroft, is at the moment representing a Latino household suing a landlord and real estate agent for unlawful eviction after being kicked out of their Baldwin Park home final 12 months.

A few weeks after being served, amid a sequence of ICE raids primarily focusing on Latino communities in L.A. County, Rod Fehlman, the lawyer who appeared to be representing the agent at the time, despatched McCracken’s staff a sequence of emails disputing the lawsuit and urging them to drop the case.

He ended the correspondence with this: “It is also interesting to note that your clients are likely to be picked up by ICE and deported prior to trial thanks to all the good work the Trump administration has done in regards to immigration in California.”

“It’s racist,” McCracken mentioned. “Not only is it unethical and probably illegal, but it’s just a really wild thing to say — especially since my clients are U.S. citizens.”

The remark arrived as ICE raises tensions between landlords and Latino tenants. According to California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, ICE has been pressuring some landlords to report their tenants’ immigration standing.

Bonta’s workplace issued a client alert on Tuesday reminding landlords that “it is illegal in California to discriminate against tenants or to harass or retaliate against a tenant by disclosing their immigration status to law enforcement.”

Fehlman didn’t reply to requests for remark, nor did the shoppers he appeared to be representing: real estate agent David Benavides and brokerage Majesty One Properties, Inc. Fehlman’s position in the case is unclear; following requests for remark from The Times, Benavides and the brokerage responded to McCracken’s grievance utilizing a completely different law firm.

But according to McCracken, Fehlman serves as the defendants’ personal attorney and will doubtless still participate in the lawsuit in an advisory position.

Evicted

From 2018 to 2024, Yicenia Morales rented a two-bedroom condominium in Baldwin Park, which she shared with her husband, three youngsters and grandson. According to her wrongful eviction lawsuit filed in May, the home had a slew of issues: defective electrical energy, leaks in the toilet, dangerous air flow, and a damaged heater, air-conditioning unit and storage door.

“There was a lot that needed to be fixed, but we accepted it because we were just happy to find a place to live,” Morales mentioned.

The actual issues began in 2024, when her landlord, Celia Ruiz, began asking the household to go away because she wished to promote the property, which isn’t a legitimate motive for eviction under California law or Baldwin Park’s Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, the go well with mentioned.

According to the lawsuit, Ruiz then modified her story, alleging that she wished to transfer into the home herself, which might be a legitimate motive for eviction. According to the go well with, Ruiz and her real estate agent, David Benavides of Majesty One Properties, continuously urged Morales and her household to go away.

In September, the strain mounted. Ruiz penned a handwritten notice saying she needed the home back, and Benavides started calling them nearly every day, the go well with mentioned.

In November, assuming Ruiz needed to transfer back in, Morales left. But as an alternative of transferring in herself, Ruiz put the property on the market in January and offered it by March.

“I really believed she needed the house for herself,” Morales mentioned. “I’m just tired of people taking advantage of others.”

Lawyer ways

Depending on your interpretation of California’s Business and Professions Code, Fehlman’s remark might be unlawful, McCracken mentioned. Section 6103.7 says legal professionals might be suspended, disbarred or disciplined if they “report suspected immigration status or threaten to report suspected immigration status of a witness or party to a civil or administrative action.”

In addition, the State Bar of California bans legal professionals from threatening to current prison, administrative or disciplinary expenses to get hold of an benefit in a civil dispute.

You may argue that Fehlman’s e-mail isn’t a menace. He never mentioned he’d call ICE himself, only claiming that Morales and her household “are likely to be picked up by ICE and deported.”

Morales and her total household are all U.S. residents. But she mentioned she feels racially profiled because of her final title.

“It’s not fair for him to take advantage of that,” she mentioned. “I was born here. I have a birth certificate. I pay taxes.”

Just to be protected, Morales despatched her start certificates to McCracken’s staff. Even though she’s a citizen, if Fehlman experiences her to ICE, she still doesn’t really feel protected.

Federal brokers have arrested U.S. residents during its current raids across L.A, and a 2018 investigation by The Times discovered that ICE has arrested almost 1,500 U.S. residents since 2012, detaining some for years at a time.

“I was already depressed over the eviction. Now I’m hurt, embarrassed and nervous as well. Will he really call ICE on us?” Morales mentioned.

McCracken mentioned Fehlman’s message is a byproduct of the present anti-immigrant political surroundings. Fehlman despatched the e-mail on June 25, the tip of a jarring month that noticed the company arrest 2,031 people across seven counties in Southern California, 68% of which had no prison convictions.

“People seem to be emboldened to flout the law because they see people at the top doing it,” she mentioned. “It’s totally unacceptable behavior.”

An ironic twist, she added, is that Fehlman’s own shopper at the time was also Latino.

“I don’t know if Benavides was aware that his lawyer is making racially profiling comments, but I don’t think he’d want to work with someone like that,” McCracken mentioned.

The case is still in its early levels. Benavides and Majesty One Properties responded to the grievance on July 17, and McCracken’s staff hasn’t formally served the owner Ruiz yet because they’ve been unable to find her.

In the wake of the ICE remark, communication between McCracken and Fehlman halted. McCracken determined Fehlman’s rant and attainable menace didn’t warrant a response, and Fehlman hasn’t mentioned the rest in the meantime. Her staff is still deciding how they need to proceed in the wake of the remark, which may justify legal motion.

She known as it a harmful attempt to chill her shopper’s speech and a failed attempt to intimidate her into dropping the case. But he took it approach too far.

“We’re at a point in time where lawyers need to be upholding the rule of law,” she mentioned. “Especially in a time like this.”