Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I believe he can since the legal ownership is not really different than the partners owning the property. To be safe,you could file in your own name and as a partner of partnership X.

If the premises is partnership property and the rental agreement is between the tenant and the partnership, then the individual partner typically has no standing to sue because there is no individual property right.

Are you the tenant?

Sorry for the poor caliber answers from the other attorneys. The answer is "yes," provided the partner is authorized by the partnership to do so. Only corporations and LLC's are required to be represented by counsel. A partnership can appear pro se through one of its partners.

Mr. McCormick, I think we are discussing two different issues. I agree with you that a partnership may appear in court through one of the authorized partners and does not need an attorney like an LLC or corporation would. However, my point was that I believe the named plaintiff with standing to sue must be the partnership and not an individual partner if the land is partnership property and the lease is with the tenant and the partnership. An individual partner may then represent the partnership plaintiff in court.

I agree with Mr. Storm that we are discussing two different issues. I am discussing the question asked. He gave information that was irrelevant to the question. I don't disagree with Mr. Storm regarding the party in whose name the case would be filed. It just has nothing to do with the question that was asked, and Mr. Storm's original answer ignored and failed to answer the actual question.

I also write again to correct my answer and disagree with Mr. Storm now on the actual question asked. I am unable to find any authority for the proposition that a partner can appear in California courts in pro per for the partnership if the partner is not an attorney. The U.S. Supreme Court in Rowland v. California Mens Colony expressly resolved the issue for the federal courts under the relevant federal statute, holding that a partnership must be represented by an attorney. Various states have gone either way, but there is no California case that I have found that addresses the issue for California state courts, and the majority view from my informal survey is that partnerships need attorneys in more states than not. Lastly, I note that the Judicial Counsel Form for substitution of attorney warns that an "Unicorporated association" cannot act as its own attorney. Partnerships are unincorporated associations. While not binding, it appears that the Judicial Council does not believe partnerships can be represented pro per by a partner.

My apologies if I misunderstood the question. I originally understood it to be asking about standing to sue and not representation of of a business entity, but now I can see it the other way.

As to the substance of the response, I am happy to withdraw my prior post in light of the research. Excellent question though, and thanks, Mr. McCormick, for the thoughtful posts.