By Lauren Berg

Law360 (May 12, 2021, 6:00 PM EDT) -- A landlord association asked the Ninth Circuit during oral arguments Wednesday to block the city of Los Angeles' moratorium on evictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the ordinance provides a plethora of protections to tenants but leaves landlords out in the cold.

The Apartment Association of Los Angeles County told the three-judge panel that a California federal court got it wrong in denying a preliminary injunction bid against the eviction moratorium ordinance enacted in March 2020 by the city, the city council and Mayor Eric Garcetti, saying the ordinance takes away the ability to evict nonpaying tenants, in violation of landlords' constitutional rights.

Doug Dennington of Rutan & Tucker LLP, an attorney for the association, said the moratorium allows tenants to withhold all rent payments during the emergency period and gives them a full year to repay rent once the emergency is over. Tenants aren't even required to provide notice or documentation of their inability to pay rent to their landlord, Dennington said.

But if a landlord tries to evict a nonpaying tenant and the tenant can show he or she has suffered a virus-related hardship, the landlord could be on the hook for hefty fines, according to Dennington.

The eviction ordinance gives tenants a veritable cornucopia of protections, but obliterates landlords' ability to mitigate damages from nonpaying tenants by re-leasing property to paying tenants, Dennington said.

The association, which says it has more than 10,000 members owning or managing more than 150,000 rental housing units in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties, filed suit last June, saying landlords aren't likely to ever see the money from back rent.

The group said its members are "sympathetic to tenants who have actually suffered hardship due to the pandemic," but that the two ordinances passed last year "allow tenants who actually have the ability to pay all or some of their rent to ignore their contractual obligations for the foreseeable future."

U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson in November denied the association's bid for a preliminary injunction, finding that the group hasn't shown a likelihood of irreparable harm or that the balance of public interest weighs in favor of preliminary relief. The association quickly appealed the order that same month, court records show.

On Thursday, the city said the eviction moratorium is saving lives during a once-in-a-century public health crisis and that the ordinance does not forgive any rent payments. The city said landlords are still free to pursue unpaid rent in court.

Jonathan H. Eisenman of the Los Angeles city attorney's office told the panel that landlords can still seek eviction of nonpaying tenants who don't have a COVID-19 difficulty that prevents them from paying their rent.

Counsel for the city declined to comment Wednesday. Counsel for the association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Circuit Judges Jay S. Bybee and Daniel A. Bress and U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone sat on the panel for the Ninth Circuit.

The Apartment Association of Los Angeles County is represented by Doug Dennington and John A. Ramirez of Rutan & Tucker LLP.

The city of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Council and Garcetti are represented by Jonathan H. Eisenman, Deborah Breithaupt, David Michaelson and Elaine Zhong of the Los Angeles city attorney's office.

The case is Apartment Association of Los Angeles County Inc. v. City of Los Angeles et al., case number 20-56251, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

--Additional reporting by Hannah Albarazi. Editing by Stephen Berg.

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