LAT: Jerk Lawyer Evicts Record Numbers of Poor for Profit

[ellisonz]

He shows renters the door
By Jessica Garrison, Times Staff Writer
March 14, 2007

Dennis Block seemed glued to his black leather chair, his coffee untouched, apparently impervious to physical needs such as the bathroom or food, taking one landlord's phone call after another.

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In a DVD he gives to landlords, Block describes himself this way: "A man who has evicted more tenants than any other human being on the planet Earth."

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Zooming property values have sent rents skyrocketing more than 25% in four years citywide and even higher in rapidly gentrifying areas. But hundreds of thousands of tenants are protected by rent-stabilization laws, which limit rent increases to 4% a year. When the tenant moves, market rates can take effect — but tenants can be evicted only with good cause.

That's where Block comes in. He has dedicated his considerable creativity and intelligence to helping landlords evict tenants from rent-stabilized buildings. He boasts that his firm has filed more than 130,000 cases since 1980, a year after rent stabilization went into effect. He helps landlords identify minor violations — a pet fish in an aquarium, a brightly painted bathroom, an extra occupant — to toss out long-term tenants who are paying below market for their homes.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-me-evictlawyer14mar14,0,2368641.story?page=1&coll=la-home-headlines

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The homeless should block his office doors. He's evil, pure capitalist evil. Who want's to guess his party affiliation?
:evilfrown:

[Cobalt Violet]

1. What an creep.

Someday he'll get his and so won't the landlords. Ones someone has an eviction on their record it can be hard to get another place.

[ellisonz]

2. I sure hope so...

Maybe someone should just kidnap him and leave him on Skid Row (Dear Mod's that's tounge in cheek).

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez16oct16-series-2,0,7749507.special

You should definitely check out that link as its some of the best journalism of this century so far.

[salin]

3. someone should put *all* of his dealings and actions

under the same microscope he encourages landlords to use to find "minor violations" or worse - and put this guy put of business (and take his firm with him.)

[youngdem]

4. Instant karma's gonna get you

[Systematic Chaos]

5. You know what he looks like to me?

You'd have to have seen South Park at least a couple of times to understand what I'm talking about, but sometimes in the show when they want to portray someone as a complete moran or just "off in the head" they give them this animated, bug-eyed look. Like this one episode where they had OJ Simpson, Gary Condit and the parents of the little girl in Colorado (can't remember the name for the life of me) all trying to be a support group for the parents of a boy whom the mother tried to kill. And yeah, I know that some of you are wondering how the hell that can be funny, but it was great satire. Trust me.

Anyway, this dude looks like some bug-eyed nitwit from an episode of South Park. And that's not a good thing IMO.

[Tsiyu]

6. Why, he's uglier than his business dealings

They say you get the face you deserve, and he proves it.

Blechhhh......

[shugah]

7. and he loves his work

what a twisted human being.

[sutz12]

8. That oughta get him a few free drinks down at the ol' country club. nt

[ellisonz]

9. Kick.

[treestar]

10. As if lawyers exist in a vacuum and have no clients

What about the slumlord? He could do it himself without a lawyer, too.

This is like blaming the lawyer for "defending drunk drivers." (Those accused of DUI).

Furthermore, if you don't pay the rent, you can be evicted, that's been the law for several centuries. The solution to the problem lies elsewhere - if the poor can't afford housing, we should help them rather than put that burden entirely on the owners of the house. It'd be like blaming the colleges for not educating people who can't pay the tuition or blaming the auto dealers because you can't afford a car.

[Bunny]

11. Except they're not evicting people just for failure to pay rent.

They're also evicting them for minor things like having fish in an aquarium, or a bathroom that's painted in the "wrong" color.

[ellisonz]

12. We did help the poor with rent stabilization...

...and he's doing his damndest to make it meaningless.

"The Inner City Law Center fought his office for weeks on behalf of Nazlu Stepanian, a disabled woman who has lived in her Hollywood apartment for 26 years, now paying $469 for a one-bedroom, which is significantly below market. The building was recently sold to a new owner, a Block client, who said Stepanian hadn't paid her rent on time and served her with eviction papers. Lawyers for Stepanian said that Block and the landlord seized the pretext that Stepanian's rent was a few days late to force her from her home so they could raise the rent. "It was unjust," said Betsy Handler, litigation director for the center. A judge ruled Feb. 28 that Stepanian could stay in her apartment."

And that's happening more and more often and legal aid can't keep up, it's un-American IMHO...

[ellisonz]

13. One last kick for poverty.

[Cobalt Violet]

14. And another.

:kick:

[blues90]

15. What a slime

With his approach he forces those who are already broke to seek legal help and if they can't afford that then what ?

People like this heartless bastard should be shoved on a plane headed for Iraq .

Just what the world needs are more predators like this freak , people will someday have enough and then this freak will be in big trouble .

[Solo_in_MD]

16. There needs to be some balance in the system

Draconian rent control can lead to draconian solutions like this creature. There needs to be a fairer way for all concerned to address the real costs of renting property or rental property will go away, which is already happening.

Middle ground anyone?

[Blue_Tires]

17. lowlife piece of shit

this is the face of the nation we live in, folks.....how much longer until people start fighting back?

[ellisonz]

18. Probably not until we have a strong Socialist party again...

Not that I'm a Socialist...;) ;)

And I would never advocate violent means...although violent acts of class warfare have occured repeatedly throughout the history of Los Angeles.

http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/scandals/

Note the 1910 Bombing at the LA Times building.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Gray_Otis