Law Office of Evan Livingstone

The CARES Act provides a temporary moratorium on evictions for most residents of federally subsidized apartments, including those supported by HUD, USDA or Treasury (Low Income Housing Tax Credit developments) as well a moratorium on filings for evictions for renters in homes covered by federally-backed (FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac) mortgages for 120 days after enactment. These landlords may not issue eviction notices or charge late fees! This searchable database and map allows some renters to identify if their home is covered by the CARES Act eviction moratoriums. https://nlihc.org/federal-moratoriums

https://newsroom.courts.ca.gov//judicial-council-adopts-ne

Eviction lawsuits are frozen in the courts! The Judicial Council, just adopted an emergency court rule that stops all new eviction cases until 90 days after the Governor lifts the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. For existing eviction cases, the new rule prohibits the court from setting a trial for 60 days. ¡Las demandas de desalojo están congeladas en los tribunales! El Consejo Judicial, acaba de adoptar una norma judicial de emergencia que detiene todos los nuevos casos de desalojo hasta 90 días después de que el Gobernador levanta el estado de emergencia relacionado con la pandemia COVID-19. Para los casos de desalojo existentes, la nueva norma prohíbe que el tribunal establezca un juicio por 60 días.

The Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the California courts, just adopted an emergency court rule that effectively stops all eviction cases. The rule is applicable to all courts and to all eviction cases, whether they are based on a tenant’s missed rent payment or another reason. This new court rule will apply until 90 days after the Governor lifts the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic, or until it is amended or repealed by the Judicial Council. The... rule: Prohibits a court from issuing a summons after a landlord files an eviction case, unless necessary to protect public health and safety. This means that, even if a landlord files an eviction case, the tenant will not be under the normal five-day deadline to respond. The time for the tenant to respond to a new eviction case will not begin until the rule is lifted, giving them time to seek out legal assistance and assuring that no tenant’s right to tell their side of the story in court is denied due to the emergency. Prohibits a court from entering an automatic default judgment against the tenant because the tenant failed to file a response, unless the court finds: o The eviction is necessary to protect public health and safety; and o The tenant failed to respond in the time required by law, including any extension that may apply due to the Governor’s Executive Order regarding evictions during the COVID-19 emergency. For eviction cases where the tenant has responded or appeared, prohibits a court from setting the case for trial earlier than 60 days after a trial is requested, unless necessary to protect public health and safety. Requires any trial in an eviction case that was already scheduled as of April to be postponed until at least 60 days after the initial trial date. See more

I am currently employed as a staff attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance. I am not accepting cases through the Law Office of Evan Livingstone. I am always happy to answer questions. (707) 206-6570 or [email protected]

I just settled a price gouging case where a corporate landlord started charging 128 apartment residents $105 a month for water and garbage, when those services had been free before the state of emergency was declared after the Sonoma County wildfires in October 2017. The landlord agreed to stop charging for these utilities and credit the residents what they had paid.

https://evanlivingstone.com/lawsuit-for-failure-to-maintai/

Dear clients and poential clients. I am thrilled to announce that after three years working for the wonderful organization Legal Aid of Sonoma County, I will be returning to work full time in the Law Office of Evan Livingstone. I will be working mainly on consumer law remedies, mobile home issues and bankruptcy, but feel free to ask me other questions.

New Overtime Rules for Farm Workers The first phase of the new rules will begin in January, when agricultural employees will earn overtime after working 9 1/2 hours in a day or 55 hours in a week. Currently California farmworkers can get overtime after working 60 hours in a week or 10 hours in a day. The change only applies to businesses that employ at least 26 people. The rules do not apply to smaller agricultural employers until 2022.

Governor Brown has extended the protections of the price-gouging law in Sonoma County through May 31, 2019.