Smith v. Municipal Court

In this case we hold that a rented boat slip in a marina is “real property” for purposes of unlawful detainer.

Petitioner Kent Smith, a Redwood City boat user, is defendant in an unlawful detainer action brought by the Peninsula Marina through its operator, real party in interest TMI Growth Properties ’83 (TMI). TMI seeks to evict Smith and his 36-foot sailboat, the Solaris, from a rented boat slip in the marina. Smith moved to quash the five-day unlawful detainer summons on the ground that the action did not involve “real property” and the court’s jurisdiction could not be invoked by an unlawful detainer summons. The municipal court denied the motion, and the superior court denied Smith’s petition for writ of mandate. Smith filed this petition seeking “second-tier” writ review under Code of Civil Procedure section 904.1, subdivision (a)(4).

Because the issue appeared novel and Smith would have mooted his jurisdictional challenge by responding to the summons, we stayed the unlawful detainer proceedings and requested opposition from real party. We have reviewed the matter under Code of Civil Procedure section 904.1 because the question presented appears to be of first…