Habitability Team Triumphs at Trial, Holding Opposing Counsel Accountable for Misconduct

Our Landlord / Tenant / Habitability team achieved a sweeping trial victory in a case involving Plaintiff who claimed several millions in damages for alleged bed bug infestations and other uninhabitable conditions in her rent-controlled studio apartment. Los Angeles Equity Partner and team leader Sharon Jeffrey led the trial, with Partner Twiggy Alvarez sitting second chair. 

The case had originally settled in 2022, with Plaintiff’s attorney promising the original defense counsel that he would not cash or deposit the settlement check until the court resolved competing lien claims to the settlement funds asserted by three parties, including Plaintiff’s attorney. Plaintiff’s attorney nevertheless transferred the settlement funds into his firm’s operating account without court approval and spent the entire amount within four months. Despite the Court ordering him to return the money, he failed to do so. After exhausting his appeals, he proceeded to challenge the trial court’s jurisdiction to order the money returned, prompting the original defense counsel to file a cross-complaint seeking the money’s return. Our team ultimately took over both the defense and cross-complaint, highlighting the weak points of plaintiff’s case and her attorney’s clear violation of both legal and ethical requirements.

Over the course of the testimony, our team was successful in dismantling Plaintiff’s credibility, demonstrating our client’s good-faith remediation efforts and plaintiff’s obstruction thereof, and meticulously establishing opposing counsel’s fraudulent and unconscionable actions. At the close of trial testimony, the judge granted our team’s motion for a directed verdict against opposing counsel on all cross-complaint counts, ordering restitution of the $275,000 in settlement funds, as well as pre-judgment interest on the entire amount since October 2022.

The jury also delivered a unanimous defense verdict, which awarded plaintiff $0 in damages, found opposing counsel liable for an additional $175,000 in consequential damages, and found opposing counsel to have acted so despicably that punitive damages should be awarded against him. He ultimately stipulated to an additional $300,000 in punitive damages. 

About Our Team

Sharon Jeffrey is the leader of the Landlord / Tenant / Habitability team, in which she oversees a broad range of litigation involving habitability, premises liability, business litigation, product liability, and related disputes. Los Angeles Magazine has recognized Ms. Jeffrey repeatedly for her work in civil defense litigation. She was also recognized as a Super Lawyer Rising Star for five consecutive years and was honored as one of the Top Women Attorneys in Southern California for two years. 

Twiggy Alvarez is a member of the Landlord / Tenant / Habitability, Premises Liability, and Product Liability teams. Prior to joining Manning Kass, Ms. Alvarez practiced law in a variety of areas, including product liability, premises liability, landlord-tenant law, insurance coverage, personal bankruptcy, consumer law, criminal law, family law, construction defect, business litigation, and corporate law.