From the January 2009 Newsletter:

Prop. M legal Challenge Looms Large for 2009
By Noni Richen, SPOSFI President

We on the SPOSFI Board of Directors
wish all our members a happy 2009. While
we wish this year’s newsletters could be
filled with helpful hints about maintaining our
properties and keeping our renters happy, we are
again forced to focus on the fallout of the November
2008 election, particularly the heinous Prop.
M—the “Tenant Harassment Bill”—which might be
more aptly termed the Landlord’s Gag Rule. This ordinance,
as board member Andrew Zacks discussed in
our last newsletter, is a stealth removal of civil rights
guaranteed by our state and federal constitutions. We
can be fined and jailed for “questionable behavior”
and held responsible for treble damages, including
emotional distress and punitive damages. Anyone with
a “valid” interest may sue us. If they prevail in court,
they may recover legal fees, but if we prevail, we’re on
our own.
Naturally, we are preparing to fight this travesty
in the courts. We were invited to join in a lawsuit
being brought by the S.F. Apartment Association, at no
cost to us. We very much appreciated the invitation
and considered it carefully. The litigation is being prepared
by Stanley Fried, an extremely capable attorney,
and, we understand, will be filed very soon in State
Superior Court. The aspect of the litigation that gave
us pause was Mr. Fried’s entirely understandable stipulation
that, as non-paying plaintiffs, we would have
no say in the direction of the litigation. Andrew Zacks
suggests that we, instead, attack Prop. M as an infringement
on our constitutional rights. The Board voted
unanimously to take our own path: the litigation will
be prepared by attorney Steven Rosenthal, who has had
recent success in court with a similar ordinance. He will be
assisted pro bono by Zacks, Utrecht, and Leadbetter.
There will be a cap on legal fees and expenses; the
details are being worked out this week. Steven
Rosenthal, Andrew Zacks, and Paul Utrecht will present
the litigation strategy at our next (January 13) meeting.
A victory by both plaintiff groups will serve all
property owners. Please plan to attend.
In the mean time, please dig deep to help fund our
efforts. I know it gets tiresome to be asked for money
for our lawsuits, but, unlike other organizations, we
receive no funds or direction from huge property
owners and developers. This allows us to pursue what’s
important to small property owners. It’s also why we
were the only San Francisco property owner group to
have supported Prop. 98, while the others were silent
because their big members depend on eminent domain
to acquire some of their property, and because they
are not particularly affected by rent control.
 

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