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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 appointment of a receiver can eradicate health and safety threats in your community and is an available and valuable remedy under California law. A receiver is a neutral third-party appointed by the Court to take temporary control over substandard properties that are subject to a lawsuit. By appointing a receiver, the Court can eliminate illegal or unsafe activity occurring at a property. Health and Safety Receiverships are used primarily for substandard properties which include but are not limited to hoarding properties, illegal construction or habitation, fire damaged properties, nuisance properties, deceased owner or abandoned properties, and slum apartments/motels. Once the court appoints a receiver, the property is under the direct control of the court via the court-appointed receiver. The health and safety receiver is then responsible for the general repairs and maintenance for the property and for ensuring that the property is brought into compliance with State and local codes at the property owner’s expense. Utilizing the receivership remedy saves a city, or other municipality, time and resources, and demonstrates to the surrounding community that the city is taking effective steps to remedy the dangerous conditions created by the problem property.

Richardson "Red" Griswold of Griswold Law, APC recently appeared on KCBQ 1170 AM to discuss his role as a court-appointed partition referee and court-appointed receiver. Below are clips from the recent radio appearance. For more information about the use of a partition referee in a partition matter or the function of a court-appointed receiver, please contact Red Griswold of Griswold Law, APC.

Griswold Law, along with co-counsel JCL Law Firm, recently achieved a class action settlement on behalf of a class of San Diego County individuals that suffered illegal treatment as motel/apartment occupants. The class members were subject to a variation of the "28-day shuffle" policy, unlawfully utilized by some motels/apartments in California. As a part of the court-approved class action settlement, we were honored to present a $75,881.50 "cy pres" donation to Alpha Project in San Diego. We presented the check to Alpha Project at the grand opening ceremony of their beautiful new project (Alpha Square) in downtown San Diego on November 18, 2015. The building will provide 203 brand-new units for the homeless population in San Diego!!

As I have written about consistently in this blog (and experienced on a daily basis in my role as a health and safety receiver), hoarding is a serious problem that affects people, neighborhoods and properties. And unfortunately, the hoarding disorder is typically under-served and misunderstood.

Co-ownership of real property sounds like a great idea. That is, until co-owners disagree. Generally, real property is considered "unique." What is meant by that is that real property is not something that can simply split in half when two co-owners disagree and want to liquidate a contested asset. In most partition actions, the remedy sought is the appointment of a partition referee, whose primary function is to sell the jointly-owned property and then distribute the proceeds with court approval.