In addition to our affirmative litigation work, the Charter mandates that the City Attorney represent and defend the City of Oakland when the City is sued. One of our recent victories involved the City’s eviction moratorium ordinance, which has protected tenants from eviction during the pandemic if they don’t pay their rent.

In this case, the plaintiffs, a non-profit that represents rental property owners, asked the court to invalidate the City’s eviction moratorium ordinance asserting that language of the ordinance violates the federal and state constitutions. The court denied their motion, allowing the eviction moratorium to remain in effect while the case proceeds. Thanks to the excellent work of my office’s litigation team, vulnerable renters in Oakland continue to have the protections of the City’s eviction moratorium subject to the City Council’s determination to terminate the moratorium.