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Oakland, Calif. – The Oakland City Attorney’s Office filed a lawsuit on August 11 against The Mosser Companies, Inc., which operates more than 3,000 California rental units and is one of Northern California’s largest housing providers. The lawsuit also names 184 13th Street Associates, LLC, the building’s owner, and Neveo Mosser, the companies’ chief executive. The lawsuit concerns La Peralta, a 98-unit building at 184 13th Street in downtown Oakland, where elderly, disabled, and health-impaired tenants were left stranded in their homes after defendants allowed both of the building’s elevators to remain inoperable for weeks in the summer of 2025.

According to the lawsuit, both elevators in the six-story building were out of service for 52 consecutive days, from late June until August 18, 2025. During that time, residents who could not manage the stairs were confined to their units, and those who could manage were forced to climb as many as six flights several times a day to reach their homes, medical appointments, groceries, and laundry. On more than one occasion, emergency medical responders had to carry a disabled resident down several flights of stairs.

“No Oaklander should be trapped in their own home or forced to risk their safety on a stairwell because a landlord fails to provide basic maintenance,” said District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife, whose district includes the property. “The tenants at La Peralta are our neighbors. They are elderly residents, people with disabilities, and longtime members of this community. For years I have fought to make this property owner accountable to tenants, and I am proud that the City is standing with residents to hold Mosser accountable. This lawsuit is a warning to bad actors who violate Oakland’s Elevator Ordinance.”

The lawsuit alleges that the 2025 outage was not an isolated event but part of a multi-year pattern of elevator neglect at La Peralta. In a single year, the Oakland Fire Department responded to the building more than a dozen times to free residents trapped in its elevators, and state safety regulators repeatedly cited the elevators and issued multiple orders prohibiting their use. The lawsuit further alleges that the defendants did not maintain the legally required on-site manager in the building, allowed pest infestations and security problems to persist, and failed to repair fire, water, and structural damage documented by City code-enforcement officials.

“This was a very difficult experience. So many of us were frustrated and angry about not knowing when our living conditions would improve,” said Kathy “Kit” Vaquilar, a tenant in the La Peralta building. “The elevator being out for so long, during the heat of summer, made life worse because I had to plan every trip up and down the stairs, which, at my age, would take about 10 minutes every time, with breaks to rest between each flight. Every trip for groceries, or laundry, or taking out the trash, became an ordeal.”

The lawsuit alleges that the outage was prolonged not by any shortage of parts or labor beyond the defendants’ control, but by the defendants’ failure to pay their elevator maintenance contractors and make a reasonable effort to address the issue. It further alleges that the defendants began serious repair efforts only after the outage attracted news coverage and public scrutiny.

“Despite repeated requests for assistance, Mosser Property Management has consistently failed to address critical issues across several properties, leaving myself and numerous other tenants in distressing living conditions,” added tenant D’Andrea Gates-Riley Stewart.  “It is unacceptable that the management’s inaction has led to prolonged suffering for residents who deserve a safe and healthy environment.”

Oakland enacted its Elevator Maintenance in Residential Buildings Ordinance in 2024 to protect tenants from exactly these types of harms. The ordinance requires building operators to keep elevators in working order, to notify residents when an elevator is out of service, and to proactively offer temporary alternative housing to residents whose disabilities or medical conditions prevent them from using the stairs. According to the lawsuit, the defendants met none of these obligations during the outage.

“Maintaining working elevators is essential maintenance for any building, and it’s the law in Oakland,” said City Attorney Ryan Richardson. “It is simply unacceptable to leave tenants trapped in their apartments for weeks at a time, and we intend to hold the building owners accountable and to put safeguards in place that will help ensure the situation does not recur.”

The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated Oakland’s Elevator Maintenance in Residential Buildings Ordinance, Tenant Protection Ordinance, Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance, Rent Adjustment Ordinance and Civil Protection of the People of Oakland Ordinance, and that they created a public nuisance. The City Attorney is asking the court to order the defendants to bring the building into compliance; assess civil penalties; award restitution to the affected tenants; require the defendants to surrender all profits earned as a result of their unlawful conduct; and reimburse the City for the costs and fees required to bring this case.

The case is City of Oakland v. The Mosser Companies, Inc., et al., Alameda County Superior Court Case No. 26CV204098.

The case was brought by the Oakland City Attorney’s Neighborhood Law Corps and Housing Justice Initiative, units within the office that work directly with residents to promote housing security and improve quality of life.

Oakland tenants who have knowledge of elevator outages, poor conditions, or other housing issues at La Peralta or another property managed by The Mosser Companies can report this information to the City Attorney’s Neighborhood Law Corps:

• Email: LawCorps@oaklandcityattorney.org
• Call: (510) 238-6628

Tenants should include their contact information, the applicable property address(es), and a brief description of the issues they are experiencing when reaching out.