Simon

Four tenants of a mobilehome park protested the park owner’s request for a rental increase. This exercise of free speech and right to protest resulted in their being named as defendants in the park owner’s action against the city for failure to grant the total relief requested. Do the tenants have to remain in the lawsuit and represent unwillingly the rest of the mobilehome park tenants? They do not.

Pinnacle Holdings, Inc. (Pinnacle), appeals from judgments of dismissal in favor of respondents Patty Cau and Harold Simon following the court’s sustaining respondents’ demurrers without leave to amend and denying Pinnacle’s motion to certify respondents as representatives of a class. Pinnacle asserts that the individual defendants were proper parties to the cause of action for declaratory relief as real parties in interest and that the motion to determine and certify the tenants as a class should have been granted. We affirm the judgments.

Facts

Pinnacle owns and operates Imperial Ventura Mobile Estates, a residential mobilehome park which is subject to the City of San Buenaventura’s (City) mobilehome park rent control ordinance No. 81-39, as amended by City Ordinance…