Sainez
City and County of San Francisco v. Sainez
Opinion
Opinion
Lambden, J.
The City and County of San Francisco (City) brought this action against Remberto and Lourdes Sainez, the owners of multi-unit rental property at 387-391 South Van Ness Avenue, for nuisance abatement and other relief, including civil penalties for violations of the San Francisco Housing Code and San Francisco Building Code (hereafter Housing Code and Building Code). Bifurcated trial before the Honorable Douglas C. Munson produced an injunction and interlocutory judgment of liability, and then, penalties that included $767,000 imposed under former section 204(d)(2) of the Housing Code.
On this appeal following entry of a final judgment, the Sainezes challenge mainly the Housing Code penalty, claiming it was miscalculated and violated the due process and excessive fines protections of the state and federal Constitutions. We will modify the penalties to correct a miscalculation but will reject defendants’ constitutional claims.
Background
Defendants bought the property, a six-unit complex, in late 1993, and this case arose from an April 1995 code enforcement task force investigation led by the City’s department of building inspection (DBI) in conjunction with public…