Amending the City's Nuisance Eviction Law to Protect Tenants from Illegal Ammunition, Prostitution and Gambling

This month, I asked the City Council's Rules and Legislation Committee to schedule consideration of amendments to the City's Nuisance Eviction Ordinance that my Office has crafted to enhance tenants' protections against illegal weapons-related activity involving firearms, prostitution and illegal gambling.

The changes to the law will expand the illegal activities that the City can use as a basis to evict tenants from residential and commercial properties when they are endangering their neighbors or creating a public nuisance.

The current Nuisance Eviction Ordinance allows evictions when a tenant is involved in violence, drugs or illegal weapons-related activity involving firearms. The amendments we are bringing to the City Council will add illegal possession of ammunition, prostitution activity and illegal gambling as causes that landlords or the City can use to evict nuisance tenants.

The Nuisance Eviction Ordinance amendments will require that landlords bring an eviction action against tenants who illegally possess ammunition or engage in illegal gambling, prostitution, pimping, pandering or solicitation activities connected to the rental property.

These changes will help the City's efforts to stop prostitution and human trafficking of minors, which are at a crisis level in Oakland other communities in California. The Nuisance Eviction Ordinance is an important tool that the City can use to discourage the use of apartments or other rental properties for these crimes. 

The City may cite a landlord for maintaining a nuisance if the landlord fails to bring an eviction action after the City informs the landlord that the tenant is engaging in illegal activity and endangering the other tenants in the building. However, some landlords may have genuine concerns about retaliation by evicted tenants.  Landlords who have concerns for their safety or the safety of other tenants may assign the eviction cause of action to the City.

Appeals Court Upholds Judgment in City's Favor Dismissing Police Officer's Religious Discrimination Lawsuit

On July 28, the California Court of Appeal upheld the Alameda County Superior Court's decision granting the City's summary judgment motion in the case Longmire v. City of Oakland.

An Oakland Police sergeant filed a lawsuit against the City after he was suspended for eight days in connection with allegations that he performed insufficient investigations in ten cases. Plaintiff claimed he was discriminated against because his superiors believed he was a Black Muslim and because of his association with the former Your Black Muslim Bakery. Plaintiff had served as lead investigator in the murder of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey, who was killed by members of the Bakery in 2007.

The Superior Court dismissed the lawsuit after the City filed a summary judgment motion. In a unanimous decision, the Appeals Court affirmed the judgment because the plaintiff "could not substantiate his claims with evidence (1) of the decision makers' perception of him as a Black Muslim, (2) that an adverse employment action was taken against him with respect to the Bailey investigation or (3) that the City's nondiscriminatory explanations were pretextual."

"None of his evidence could lead a reasonable factfinder to conclude the discipline was based on religious discrimination," the justices wrote.

The Court's full decision can be found at: