Elmassian v. Flores (2021)

Citation: Elmassian v. Flores (2021)
Parent Document: Elmassian v. Flores (2021)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2021-09-27
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5291317/elmassian-v-flores/ ↗

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party opposing a directed verdict] must be accepted as true and conflicting evidence must be
disregarded. . . .’”’ [Citation.]” (O’Shea v. Lindenberg (2021) 64 Cal.App.5th 228, 235.)
“Unless it can be said that, as a matter of law, no other reasonable conclusion is legally
deducible from the evidence, and that any other holding would be so lacking in evidentiary
support that an appellate court would be impelled to reverse it upon appeal or a trial court set it
aside, a court is not justified in taking a case from a jury and itself rendering the decision.”
(Hunt v. United Bank & Trust Co. (1930) 210 Cal. 108, 117; see also Hauter v. Zogarts (1975)
14 Cal.3d 104, 110 [“If the evidence is conflicting or if several reasonable inferences may be
drawn, the motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict should be denied”].)
The Issues Presented
       The case turns on the interpretation of the domestic violence affirmative defense statute,
with regard to what it means for the termination of a tenancy to be “based upon an act or acts
against a tenant . . . that constitute domestic violence” (§ 1161.3, subd. (a)), and the sufficiency
of the requisite documentation provided in a police report (§ 1161.3, subd. (a)(1)(B)).
       Although the court did not allow the affirmative defense to be presented as to Will,
based on Will being a tenant when the violence occurred (see § 1161.3, subd. (a)(2)), we do not
determine if the court erred in this regard. Because there was no evidence the domestic
violence inflicted by Will (drawing a knife in December 2018 leading to defendant getting an
emergency protective order followed by a restraining order) formed any part of the reasons for
the eviction, defendant was not prejudiced by the error.10 (See Cahill v. San Diego Gas &
Electric Co. (2011) 194 Cal.App.4th 939, 956 [when a judgment is correct, we “will affirm it
regardless of the trial court’s reasoning”].)
       As to the court’s ruling regarding the defense based on Oscar, as a threshold matter, we
first analyze whether the judgment can be upheld because the three-day notice could have been

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