Nativi v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., 223 Cal. App. 4th 261 (2014)

Citation: Nativi v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., 223 Cal. App. 4th 261 (2014)
Parent Document: Nativi v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., 223 Cal. App. 4th 261 (2014)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2014-01-23
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2650742/nativi-v-deutsche-bank-national... ↗

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Civil Code section 3300 provides the measure of contract damages for breach of
the covenant of quiet enjoyment implied in a lease. (See Standard Live Stock Co. v.
Pentz, supra, 204 Cal. at p. 642; see also Civ. Code, § 1927.)
3. Tortious Wrongful Eviction
California recognizes the tort of wrongful conviction. (See Barkett v. Brucato
(1953) 122 Cal.App.2d 264, 275.) "The same basic policy against forcible or other
wrongful ouster that gives the tenant the summary remedy to obtain restoration of
possession . . . gives the tenant a tort action for damages for wrongful eviction.
[Citations.]" (12 Witkin, Summary of Cal. Law (10th ed. 2005) Real Property, § 758, p.
882.) "An essential element of a wrongful eviction claim is that the tenant has vacated
the premises. [Citations.]" (Ginsberg v. Gamson (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 873, 900.)
In Tooke v. Allen (1948) 85 Cal.App.2d 230, the trial court found that the landlord,
" 'together with certain of his employees, acting under his direction, entered upon and
carried out a campaign of annoyance designed to force the plaintiff to vacate said
apartment by interfering repeatedly with and violating her right to the peaceable
possession thereof . . . [.]' " (Id. at pp. 232-233.) The landlord claimed that the tenant
was improperly "seeking to recover upon many causes of action founded on separate
torts" but the court "construed the complaint as stating a single cause of action arising out
of a continuous course of conduct on the part of defendant, intended and calculated to
disturb and destroy plaintiff's peaceful possession of her dwelling place." (Id. at p. 234.)
The appellate court upheld the trial court's determination, observing that the gravamen of
the tenant's cause of action was "for interference with her right of peaceful possession"
and a tenant has the "right to recover damages for deprivation of peaceful possession
occasioned by a succession of a [landlord's] wrongful acts . . . ." (Id. at p. 236.)
A tenant who is wrongfully evicted by his landlord before the expiration of the
lease term may maintain a wrongful eviction action for tort damages and punitive

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