John Chiv: "In other words, Plaintiffs’ decision to file the significantly revised Amended Complaint and Ms. Yarnall’s withdrawal of her earlier two declarations clearly prove that the original accusations were baseless and should never have been filed. "

Apr 9, 2025

"In other words, Plaintiffs’ decision to file the significantly revised Amended Complaint and Ms. Yarnall’s withdrawal of her earlier two declarations clearly prove that the original accusations were baseless and should never have been filed. "

(Photo: John Chiv)

Two days ago I did a post about Janssen Malloy's Ms. Megan Yarnall who filed a two page document withdrawing the declaration in support of the preliminary injunction requested as well as the 3/20/25 amended declaration.

In that April 7 post, I reported a motion to strike had been filed by Dhillon Law Group on behalf of Mr. Anil Dwivedi and Dwivedi Tower LLC. There is a hearing scheduled on that motion on 5/5. Mr. Slack filed a first amended complaint on April 7. These two documents weren't available in e court until today.

These documents are the latest developments in a lawsuit Janssen Malloy filed on behalf of two residents, Don Swall and Vanessa Vachon who are tenants at the Hillsdale Apartments. Mr. Dwivedi is the owner of the building.

The motion to strike filed by Dwivedi Tower shouldn't even be necessary. Janssen Malloy did not do proper research and did not fix what they needed to after the February 24, 2025 hearing and Retired Judge John Feeney's ruling . Eureka Central Residence has nothing to do with this lawsuit.

The Janssen Malloy latest filing is repetitive. I am only going to include the first page and the last two pages of the Janssen Malloy filing which have some new information. I have also included relevant pages from the Dwivedi Tower motion to strike. Best decision Mr. Dwivedi made was to add Dhillon Law Group as co-counsel. Janssen Malloy FAC finally removed all references of Eureka Central Residence.

Given these filings, will Judge Timothy Canning who is the assigned civil calendar judge and hearing this case wait or still issue a ruling on the preliminary injunction before 5/5/25?

Mr. Dwivedi gave me statement few minutes ago. I had reached out to him on Monday for comment and he had said, "not at this time." Janssen Malloy has ignored my previous request for comment. If they wish to email me a comment or response, I will add it to the post.

The latest court documents should get you caught up if you are a new reader or have not been following the case. Even before these latest filings, my ongoing coverage has reported and made several of these points.

I have linked previous coverage which includes court documents and exclusive information. Most people read this blog regularly and know how to access previous posts via the search feature on the blog or Google.

Statment from Dwivedi Tower and Mr. Anil Dwivedi:

For over a month, Dwivedi Tower and Anil Dwivedi have been forced to defend themselves against a baseless lawsuit filed by Janssen Malloy LLP, in connection with a rent increase notice Defendants gave to their tenants and then rescinded within 15 days, well before the lawsuit was even filed, Janssen Malloy’s only clients are two tenants – Don Swall and Vanessa Vachon – who have not paid a single dollar in increased rent, who continue to live at Defendants’ property, the Hillsdale Apartments, without signing any new lease, and who continue to enjoy significantly below-market rent. In the tenant’s original Complaint filed on February 21, 2025, Megan Yarnall and Jeff Slack of Janssen Malloy tried to drum up intrigue and outrage by painting Dwivedi Tower and Anil Dwivedi as evil landlords seeking to squeeze out their poor tenants. This narrative was so false and fabricated that Defendants’ attorney, Krista Baughman of Dhillon Law Group, was forced to send Ms. Yarnall and Mr. Slack a statutory demand that they withdraw their false claims – both from the Complaint and from two declarations Ms. Yarnall had filed in court under penalty of perjury – or face a motion for sanctions. And the proof is in the pudding, because here is what happened:

● On March 27, 2025, Defendants’ attorney demanded that Ms. Yarnall withdraw her two declarations filed in support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction because they contained false statements that her client, Mr. Swall, had previously enjoyed storage space that he was now being charged for. On April 4, 2025, Ms. Yarnall filed a notice with the court withdrawing her declarations.

● On March 27, 2025, Defendants’ attorney demanded that Plaintiffs remove from their Complaint all references to the Eureka Central Residences – a completely different building owned by Dwivedi Tower, which has nothing to do with the rent increases at the Hillsdale Apartments. The original Complaint had falsely alleged “on information and belief” that Dwivedi Tower had served improper rent notices on tenants of that building too, and this claim lacked any factual support. In response to counsel's demand, Janssen Malloy removed the false allegations about the Eureka Central Residence, as seen in an Amended Complaint they served on April 7, 2025.

● On March 27, 2025, Defendants’ attorney demanded that Plaintiffs remove paragraph 39 from their Complaint, which falsely claimed that Mr. Swall and Ms. Vachon were “ignorant of whether or not” Anil Dwivedi had responded to a letter from Legal Services that first brought the rental increase issue to his attention. In fact, Plaintiffs and their counsel knew that Anil had immediately responded to Legal Services to rescind the improper notices – and Mr. Swall even confirmed as much to the Lost Coast Outpost.(https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2025/feb/18/tenants-hillsdale-apartments-fight-back-against-il/). In response to this demand, Janssen Malloy removed the false allegation at paragraph 39 from their Complaint, as seen in the Amended Complaint they served on April 7, 2025.

● On March 27, 2025, Defendants’ attorney demanded that Plaintiffs remove from their Complaint false allegations that tenants of Hillsdale Apartments had been “evicted,” because in reality, not a single tenant has been evicted. In response to this demand, Janssen Malloy entirely removed reference to their “Evicted Sub-Class” in the Amended Complaint they served on April 7, 2025.

● Notably, in response to counsel’s demands, Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint also excludes frivolous allegations that had been included in the original Complaint, including that Dwivedi Tower and Anil Dwivedi had “continue[d] to threaten to evict tenants” (which they have not), “systematically attempted to impose unlawful rent increases through intimidation and threats” (which they have not), and acted with “oppression, fraud, or malice” (which they have not). In other words, Plaintiffs’ decision to file the significantly revised Amended Complaint and Ms. Yarnall’s withdrawal of her earlier two declarations clearly prove that the original accusations were baseless and should never have been filed.

The true series of events are as follows:

● On January 27, 2025, Dwivedi Tower delivered a notice to some tenants at Hillsdale regarding a rent increase to the Fair Market Rent (FMR), to be effective March 1, 2025. This action was taken without the immediate awareness by Defendants of a newly enacted Tenant Protection Act (TPA) that limits rent increases within a 12-month period.

● Upon receiving a letter from Legal Services on February 11, 2025, informing Defendants of their potential violation of the TPA, Dwivedi Tower and Anil Dwivedi took immediate action.

● On the very same day, February 11, 2025, Defendants rescinded the rent increase notice in its entirety.

● Tenants were promptly informed that the rent would not be increased by more than 8.8%, ensuring full compliance with the TPA.

● This swift action and clarification were widely reported in the media.

Despite this complete resolution of the matter by February 11, ten days later, on February 21, 2025, Janssen Malloy LLP filed a Complaint rife with false allegations, as discussed above.

These allegations were not without consequence: as a direct result of the lies, Mr. Dwivedi has been subjected to death threats and harassment from members of the public, and feels unsafe walking down the streets of his own town.

Dwivedi Tower and Anil Dwivedi assert that the evidence will show that the current plaintiffs, Mr. Don Swall and Ms. Vanessa Vachon, have not experienced any actual harm or damages as a result of the initial, rescinded notice. They continue to live at Hillsdale Apartments at a significantly below-market rent, and they have not paid a dime in “illegal” rental increases.

Ms. Yarnall and Mr. Slack have not identified a single other tenant who has been damaged in any way. As such, the continued pursuit of this lawsuit is a waste of judicial resources, exploiting the process and causing significant distress and harm to the Defendants.

If Mr. Swall and Ms. Vachon persist in pursuing these baseless claims, Dwivedi Tower and Anil Dwivedi will have no choice but to vigorously defend themselves – including to set a precedent that frivolous litigation is not the appropriate way to resolve a problem, particularly when the problem was remedied in good faith within days, and without any harm to tenants.

Defendants will seek every recourse available to them, including orders for sanctions and an award of attorney’s fees and costs against Ms. Yarnall, Mr. Slack, and their clients, as appropriate.

As Plaintiffs concede in their complaint, “there is a current housing shortage in the State of California,” and Plaintiffs’ attorneys have postured to the public that they have tenants’ best interests in mind. But quite the opposite is true: if lawyers like Ms. Yarnall and Mr. Swall and tenants like Mr. Swall and Ms. Vachon engage in frivolous and overly litigious actions like these, they will drive good faith landlords of low-income housing, like Dwivedi Towers and Anil Dwivedi, out of business, deepening the housing crisis.

This lawsuit has not been brought “in the public interest” – rather, it is harming citizens of Humboldt County who need the type of housing Defendants make possible. Dwivedi Tower and Anil Dwivedi remain committed to operating ethically and in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. They and their attorneys remain confident in a full dismissal of the claims against them and an award of zero damages after presentation of the true facts.

Thank you.

Dwivedi Tower filing:

Janssen Malloy FAC:

4/14: Dhillon Law Group filed a request to take off calendar the May 5 hearing on the motion to strike and will be filing a response to the First Amended complaint.