Attorneys

James Brandan Kraus focuses on a broad range of real property-related disputes, including landlord-tenant, buyer-seller, neighbor-neighbor, and City and County of San Francisco land use and permitting issues. James is adept at legal analysis, research, and writing, and particularly enjoys appellate work. James is one of the most knowledgeable attorneys on California’s anti-SLAPP statute.The scope of James’s work is exemplified by key appeals he has handled since 1998, for both appellants and respondents:

• Drouet v. Superior Court: the California Supreme Court held that tenants may not challenge Ellis Act evictions as retaliatory.
• Reidy v. City and County of San Francisco: municipalities may not use rogue tactics, unauthorized by the Ellis Act, to encumber properties withdrawn from residential rental use under that act.
• Tom v. City and County of San Francisco: the Court recognized that California’s Constitution prohibited a local ordinance intended to bar multi-unit homeowners from agreeing among themselves, in writing, who may live in which unit.
• Birkner v. Lam: the Court held that lawsuits against landlords arising from the service of eviction notices triggers the procedural protections of the SLAPP statute.
• Daro v. Superior Court: the Court held that Ellis Act evictions may not be barred by violations of unrelated laws, even if in totality, the eviction and the violation of the unrelated law are part of a larger business practice.
• James has worked on several dozen more appeals and has won additional fascinating victories which were not published. These are available for review but may not be cited as authority under California law.