Cole Valley Family Faces Ellis Act Eviction

Cole Valley Family Faces Ellis Act EvictionRoger Paul and his daughters. (Photo: Courtesy of Roger Paul)
Camden Avery
Published on August 06, 2016

Ellis Act evictions are a hot-button issue, but with 2,248 eviction cases reported to the Eviction Defence Collaborative last year alone, it's impossible to tell the stories of every tenant and landlord. Still, we feel it's important to illustrate the issue with occasional stories about evictions around the city.


Roger Paul has been a tenant in the same apartment at 417A Frederick St. since 1993. When he first moved in, he signed a lease with landlord Dorris Mitchell, with whom he became friends over the years.

A couple of years ago, Mitchell's death left her son, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Donald Mitchell, in possession of the building. Now, Paul and his daughters Elodie, 7, and Dahlia, 3, are set to be evicted under the Ellis Acta controversial California law that allows landlords to execute no-fault evictions if they're exiting the rental market and converting to ownership units.

The eviction itself, which was initiated in June 2015, is fairly straightforward. Where the case diverges from a typical Ellis eviction is that Mitchell, who is a small claims court judge, has also filed a small claims suit against Paul, to the tune of $10,000—the upper limit for such suits.

Small claims court defendants are not allowed legal representation, which means Paul won't have any legal assistance against a judge who works in the very same court where his case will be tried.

"I was, naturally, flabbergasted, as there is an obvious conflict of interest for a judge who would have the matter decided by a colleague," Paul told us. "Clearly, he was trying to intimidate us into submission, and had the club—his court—to pummel us."

Mitchell, however, told us that "the claim has nothing to do with the Ellis Act eviction."

He said that in January of 2015, he was receiving complaints and photos from the building's other tenant "about Roger storing a lot of his things (mostly children's bicycles and other personal items) in the light well at the bottom of the central stairs—an emergency exit." Mitchell said that he thought the storage was the result of a feud Paul was having with Mitchell's other tenant over space use. He said the other tenant was also named in the suit, which hasn't been served.

While Paul doesn't deny storing objects in his building's light well, he says he's done it for years, and it's never previously been an issue. Joseph Barber, Paul's Tenderloin Housing Clinic representative, thinks the damages sought by Mitchell in the small-claims suit "were way out of proportion to a family storing their bicycles in a manner that did not appear to be obstructing access or creating any kind of inconvenience." 

Mitchell, for his part, sees the case as a simple Ellis Act eviction. "Roger refuses to move after living there for over a year with notice that I am removing the property from the rental market—and after receiving half of both the relocation allowance and payment for claimed disability."

The eviction, he said, is "my only remedy for his failure to honor my ownership rights. ... My intent is that my son occupy one flat and that I will occupy the other flat as soon as Roger moves out. Afterwards, I plan to retire after 42 years of public service."

The small claims suit has been deferred multiple times and still hasn't gone to court, though it remains on the books. Though he can't have a legal representative for the small claims case, the Tenderloin Housing Clinic is representing Paul with regards to his eviction.

Barber, Paul's THC representative, said that if Judge Mitchell succeeds in his Unlawful Detainer movement against Paul (which is a required step in forced eviction), "it leaves Roger, a tenant of 20 years or so, and his two school age daughters, through no fault or decision of their own, without a place to live. I think we all know how difficult it is to find housing now, and Roger and his family are no exception."

 "I have no idea what I will find on the rental market that is viable for me and my girls, if it comes to that," Paul said. "It is simply terrifying out there prospect-wise."