Highly-trained service animals have been part of American culture for decades. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) enshrined the right of those with physical and emotional disabilities to work with animals that can help them overcome their condition....
Can your tenants in a mobile home park refuse to pay their rent?
Operating a mobile home park can be a good source of consistent income if the units are in good condition and you have responsible tenants. However, there is often a lot of difficulties involved in maintaining manufactured homes, particularly if the tenants cause...
Collecting on commercial debts
Your small business seems to be thriving -- right up until you try to balance the books. You have several commercial accounts that are past due, and the tally owed is significant. What do you do now? Typically, you have four options for dealing with...
New Court Decision Holds There Is No Attorney-Client Relationship Giving Rise to Privileged Communications Between Counsel for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) and Complaining Individuals
A recent appellate decision in Wood v. Superior Court (Jamacha), made clear that those who file complaints with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) do not have an attorney-client relationship with counsel for DFEH and thus communications...
Random Thoughts About “Failure To Maintain Lawsuits”
The Mobilehome industry remains an unwilling participant and target defendant in multiple Failure to Maintain ("FTM") lawsuits. As a result, the legal exposure of Mobilehome Park owners in California has dramatically increased over the past 20+ years. In the recent...
EQUAL PAY: THE EVER-CHANGING WORLD OF EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
For more than 35 years, California courts have accepted that the wage history of a newly hired person's prior salary as a "factor other than sex" in determining their current pay rate. A 2018 Court of Appeal decision found that an employer justifying an employee's...
AB-1278: DON’T GET NAILED!
New California Law for Licensed Contractors. -Stephen J. Guichard, Esq. In October 2017, Governor Brown signed AB 1278 into law. Previously, licensed contractors who failed to pay a final court judgment entered against them could simply avoid the judgment by not...
Clubhouse Use And Social Hosts
Many manufactured home communities have clubhouses for park and social events. Those events may be sponsored by the Park, but are also frequently sponsored by individuals or groups that reside within a given manufactured home community. An ongoing issue in many parks...
Mobilehome Park Ground Lease
Ground leases are long term-leases that share many of the characteristics of a land purchase. The ground lessee acquires long-term exclusive rights of possession, including the right to build on and use the property as the lessee sees fit and to obtain any...
RENT CONTROL – A TRILOGY OF DECISIONS
In the past month, Hart | King has received rulings in 3 separate rent control applications/hearings. First, we received a ruling arising out of an application in the city of Lancaster. The city of Lancaster has a fairly expedited process for submitting discretionary...
