Landlord Pleads Not Guilty

By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

July 15 -- A landlord charged by the City with harassing and attempting to evict a Latino family from their rent-controlled apartment in the Pico Neighborhood pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning.

Jaroslava Liska -- who failed to attend her arraignment in Santa Monica municipal court for a second time -- faces a five-count criminal complaint for violating the City’s housing and tenant laws by engaging in a “pattern of harassment and discrimination.” If indicted, Liska could face 30 months in jail and $13,500 in fines.

A warrant for Liska’s arrest was set to be issued after she missed her first arraignment hearing in early June, citing medical problems. But Liska's attorney, Eric Meller, was authorized to appear on her behalf to enter the plea, and Judge Bernard Kamins did not ask for proof of her medical claims.

“The judge quashed her warrant,” said Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky, the prosecutor handling the case. Without asking for paperwork documenting Liska’s medical condition, “the judge believed it.

“Lawyers frequently appear for their clients in pre-trial procedures,” but “she will eventually have to show up obviously to her trial,” said Radinsky, who added that Liska is out of the country.

Liska could not be reached for comment, and her lawyer did not return calls.

Filed by the City Attorney’s office in May on behalf of the Vivanco family, the case charges Liska with violating Santa Monica’s Tenant Harassment Ordinance when she tried to evict the six-member family from the apartment at 1711 Delaware Avenue they had lived in for 17-years for "nuisance."

The case has been scheduled to move to a pre-trial conference on August 27, when the landlord will be given a chance to settle out of court or go to trial.

The City’s criminal charges -- all misdemeanors -- stem from a federal civil suit against Liska filed by Candido and Elvira C. Vivanco and their four children earlier this year for racial discrimination, harassment and violation of a number of municipal, State and federal laws.

The City is charging Liska with forbidding the Vivanco children from playing outside the building or having friends visit, repeatedly yelling at Mrs. Vivanco and her young children, urging them to move out and stating that she does not want children living in the building.

The suit also charges Liska with trying to coerce the Vivancos into signing a new lease that would charge them extra for having children and would forbid them from having more children.

The federal lawsuit -- which also names Aricka Traylor, an African-American mother of five, as a plaintiff -- alleges that in 1987, when Liska assumed ownership of the apartment, she started a campaign of eliminating low-income minority tenants with children in favor of single tenants.

The federal lawsuit -- which has been put on hold for three months to allow the criminal case to proceed -- makes eight independent claims that Liska violated numerous laws. They include California civil codes, Santa Monica housing and tenant laws, and most importantly, the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

The federal suit seeks an unspecified amount in monetary compensation to be determined in court for emotional distress, mental anguish, and humiliation.

Some of the damages allegedly caused by Liska's behavior are Candido Vivanco's heart condition and damages to nine-year-old Teresa Vivanco's academic performance due to stress.

The City has taken on about half a dozen such cases since the tenant harassment law passed in 1995, Radinsky said. The City won two of the cases, and the others were settled out of court.