Santa Monica City Attorney's Office Defamed Me, Says Local Landlady and Real Estate Agent

Dear Editor, Around July 3, the City Attorney's office issued a biased and distorted press release with claims claims which were just lot of malarkey, driven by the malicious aim to sully my reputation, conceal mismanagement within the City, and shamelessly endorse the City Attorney and a law firm.

This deceitful maneuver is intended to shift the focus of the public away from the City's misconducts, which has led to a surge in drug usage in parks and other public areas, a rise in criminal activities such as thefts, robberies, and even shootings, all of which contribute to the climate of fear regarding the safety of our community.

Most appallingly, the City aims to divert the public's attention regarding its payment of around $230 million for harboring ad cover up years of abuse by Eric Uller. The utilization of public funds for this $230 million payout could result in a financial setback of at least $5000 per resident of Santa Monica.

The City's article omits the fact that over seven years have passed since the City filed their baseless lawsuit. Throughout this period, there have been five different City Attorneys, and in 2022, Santa Monica was ranked as the sixth least safe city in the state of California.

The press release erroneously accuses me of blocking cars when in December 2020, Santa Monica Police Officers and their vehicles obstructed the building's carport for over two hours when significant quantities of illegal drugs were shipped to Plaintiff Martha McCarty's unit, according to a Santa Monica Police Report. Alarmingly, the Police department neglected to investigate the origin of the drug supply to the building amidst an unprecedented substance-use and homelessness epidemic in our city.

The article references unsubstantiated claims that the City was unable to validate in a court of law and fails to mention that the case was strategically prolonged after Deputy City Attorney Gary Rhoades, the lead attorney for the case, fainted during a court session in 2019 after the court did not grant his request for a continuance for the scheduled trial. This resulted in a delay of the trial, extending the proceedings by an additional three years until it eventually pushed into a Mandatory Settlement Conference on June 20, 2023.

The City Attorney adopts a strategy of initiating lawsuits against housing providers, some of them meritless, including the lawsuit against me. The City wastes taxpayer funds by deliberately prolonging the legal process to the point where small-size Housing providers face severe financial hardships and have no choice but to settle.

It is no brainer that if there was any validity or substance to the City's lawsuit against me, it should have been expedited to a jury trial within the first one or two years of filing, instead of being deliberately delayed for over seven years. My decision to accept a settlement was entirely due to the high costs associated with the trial and the unfortunate passing of esteemed Santa Monica attorney Rosario Perry. He was so appalled by the City Attorney's actions that he decided to continue representing me pro bono.

I have never entered any unit without proper authorization and have always provided reasonable accommodation and modifications to ensure all tenants needs are met. Neither I nor Brida LLC had any role in any payments made by the insurance company.

Sadly, I was exploited in an intricate public relations scheme to create the illusion that the City Attorney's office has done something beneficial for tenants and citizens of Santa Monica. However, upon closer examination, the City's assertions turned out to be nothing more than empty rhetoric.

Sincerely, Kathy Golshani