Blog

In California, a Health and Safety Receivership is an effective option to resolve code enforcement issues with residential and commercial properties. Health and Safety Receiverships commonly deal with substandard or abandoned properties when property owners fail to comply with code enforcement or when there is a threat to the health and safety of residents or the surrounding community. While receivership may not initially sound like a resource for illegally-operating marijuana facilities, the illegal sale of marijuana likely constitutes a nuisance pursuant to the California health and safety code and can be a threat to the health and safety of the surrounding community and/or businesses. The Receivership Remedy can resolve complex issues that arise with rogue marijuana dispensaries as dispensaries become more and more common and the industry continues to inflate.

The partition remedy in California addresses disputes between co-owners of property. Any person with an interest in real property in California may bring a partition action against a co-owner. The partition remedy is necessary when co-owners cannot decide how to handle jointly-owned property. Properties subject to partition include, but are not limited to, single-family residences, vacation homes, investment properties, commercial buildings, apartment buildings, and parcels of land.

A focus of my practice is dedicated to receivership matters. I am routinely appointed by California courts as a receiver. Specifically, I have acted as a health & safety code receiver, a rents & profits receiver, a post-judgment receiver and a partition referee. On August 26, 2014, I moderated and participated in a speaker panel at the San Diego County Bar Center presented by the San Diego Chapter of the California Receiver Forum. We were fortunate to have the Honorable Eddie C. Sturgeon speak on the panel.

A partition referee carries out a specific role in the context of a legal dispute between multiple individuals regarding real property. One or more parties will file a lawsuit that includes a partition cause of action. One aspect of the relief sought via the partition cause of action will be the appointment of a partition referee by the court. The party may nominate one or more particular partition referees, but ultimately, it is the court's decision as to who the court will appoint as the partition referee. The partition referee almost always has one single objective: sell the subject property at issue in the lawsuit and distribute the proceeds accordingly. A related task may be to manage and preserve the property while preparing for the sale, depending on the type of property.

Time sure does fly. Here at Griswold Law (and in life), things have been quite busy. I was unpleasantly surprised to realize it has been close to a year since the last article. My motivation is renewed and the published articles will follow.