Ceron v. Liu (June 26, 2025, A162646) ___ Cal.App.5th ___ [2025 WL 1766243]
A landlord owned rental units in San Francisco and Emeryville. In 2014, four tenants sued the landlord for breach of the implied warranty of habitability and other violations related to the condition of their apartments. While that case was pending, the landlord filed two separate unlawful detainer actions against the tenants for nonpayment of rent. The tenants consolidated the suits and ultimately prevailed at trial. The tenants then filed a new complaint against the landlord for malicious prosecution. The trial court rejected the landlord’s advice of counsel defense, found her liable for malicious prosecution, and awarded damages. The landlord appealed.
The Court of Appeal reversed. It held that, “a truthful disclosure of all relevant facts to counsel coupled with good-faith reliance on the advice of counsel is a complete bar to a malicious prosecution claim.” The court found the landlord had a valid advice of counsel defense because she disclosed all relevant facts about the rent checks and counsel advised her that filing unlawful detainer actions was legally justified, even though he recommended she first try to collect the rent directly. The trial court had rejected this defense because the landlord’s lawyer lacked experience with eviction actions and did not perform extensive research. The Court of Appeal disagreed, emphasizing that clients are entitled to rely in good faith on a licensed attorney’s advice without having to second-guess the lawyer’s expertise or audit their research and training.
