Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I am a property owner in the process of evicting a tenant. I gave the court paperwork to the sheriff on Dec. 2, 2011 and they could not serve the paper until Dec. 28, 2011. Meantime, the tenants' electricity was shut off & they brought a BBQ into the house & lit fires. I called the sheriff's office & explained there were open flames in the house & asked them to serve the paper sooner than the 28th & they said "no," and called the fire dept and police dept, but no one did anything. Six days later, the house caught on fire & firefighters had to destroy the roof to contain the blaze. Do I have any recourse against the sheriff, fire dept, or police dept? Thanks.


Asked on 12/26/11, 10:54 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Absolutely none whatsoever. They have no obligation to do anything about your civil law matter except the sheriff to serve your papers whenever staffing allowed. If you wanted the papers served sooner you should have hired a private process serving company. If you wanted something done about the tenants creating a dangerous situation, you should have hired an attorney to get an emergency restraining order. Bottom line, you should have hired an attorney who would have known how to get things done for you properly instead of doing them yourself. I hope you didn't try to cut corners by not having insurance, too.

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Answered on 12/26/11, 10:00 pm


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