Kavanau v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board, 16 Cal. 4th 761 (1997)

Citation: Kavanau v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board, 16 Cal. 4th 761 (1997)
Parent Document: Kavanau v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board, 16 Cal. 4th 761 (1997)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 1997-08-26
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5607899/kavanau-v-santa-monica-rent-con... ↗

Full Text

1,486 chars

An adjustment of future rents that takes into consideration past confiscatory rents is the converse of the refund that producers in price-regulated industries may have to pay if, during litigation over price levels, they charge *784prices that a court later determines to be excessive. (See, e.g., Trans Alaska Pipeline Rate Cases (1978) 436 U.S. 631, 655 [98 S.Ct. 2053, 2066-2067, 56 L.Ed.2d 591].) Moreover, this remedy, as opposed to an award of damages against the Rent Board, places the cost of compensating Kavanau roughly on those tenants who benefited from unconstitutionally low rents. (Cf. State of California v. Levi Strauss & Co. (1986) 41 Cal.3d 460, 472-473 [224 Cal.Rptr. 605, 715 P.2d 564] [antitrust class action applying “fluid recovery” whereby fund roughly benefits those who suffered damages]; Blue Chip Stamps v. Superior Court (1976) 18 Cal.3d 381, 388, fn. 1 [134 Cal.Rptr. 393, 556 P.2d 755] (conc. opn. of Tobriner, J.) [price reduction as remedy for overcharges].) We note in this regard that if any of Kavanau’s tenants has vacated an apartment, then state law may have authorized Kavanau to set the rent for his new tenants at a level that enabled him, or will enable him, to recoup past losses. (Civ. Code, §§ 1954.50-1954.53.) In that case, he would not be entitled to an additional rent adjustment. Thus, in practice, future rent adjustments are likely to affect only those tenants who have not moved and who benefited from unconstitutionally low rents.

Other Sections in This Document (115)

Full Text