7
opposing party and accept all inferences reasonably drawn therefrom. [Citation.]” (Hinesley v.
Oakshade Town Center (2005) 135 Cal.App.4th 289, 294.)
“[I]n moving for summary judgment, a ‘defendant . . . has met’ his ‘burden of showing
that a cause of action has no merit if’ he ‘has shown that one or more elements of the cause of
action . . . cannot be established, or that there is a complete defense to that cause of action.
Once the defendant . . . has met that burden, the burden shifts to the plaintiff . . . to show that a
triable issue of one or more material facts exists as to that cause of action or a defense thereto.”
(Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 Cal.4th 826, 849.)
Unlawful Detainer & LARSO
Section 1161, subdivision (3), provides a tenant is “guilty of unlawful detainer” when he
or she (a) fails to comply with a condition or covenant of the lease agreement (other than the
required rental payment), (b) is served with a written notice requiring the tenant, within three
days, to either perform such condition/covenant or surrender the property to the landlord, (c)
refuses to perform the condition or covenant identified in the three-day notice, and (d) after the
expiration of the three-day period, continues in possession of the leased premises without the
permission of the landlord.
If the rented property (like the one in this case) is governed by LARSO, “[a] landlord
may bring an action to recover possession of a rental unit only upon” one of the LARSO’s
enumerated grounds. (LAMC § 151.09(A).) Plaintiff relies on two of those grounds to justify
his action: the tenant is “committing or permitting to exist a nuisance in or is causing damage
to, the rental unit . . . .” (LAMC § 151.09(A)(3)); and the tenant “has refused the landlord
reasonable access to the unit for the purpose of making repairs or improvements, . . ” (LAMC
§ 151.09(A)(6)).6 But, LAMC section 151.09(A) does not provide an independent statutory
basis for an eviction proceeding; rather, it limits the substantive grounds upon which a landlord