San Francisco judge rules against the Googler who bought an apartment building and forced all of the tenants to move out
Halprin began the evictions under the Ellis Act, which allows landowners - many of whom had purchased buildings at a discount because of rent-controlled tenants - to push tenants out so that the buildings can "go out of business."
This usually happens so that the buildings can be converted into condos.
The protests against Halprin's Ellis Act evictions targeted the Google lawyer directly. Protesters showed up at his house, some holding signs with his phone number and directions to "flood his answering machine."
This week, according to Mission Local, a Superior Court judge ruled that Halprin had failed to cover relocation costs for a family he had planned to evict from the building under the Ellis Act.
The ruling in the tenants' favor allows them to stay in their homes for now, which means that Halprin must either appeal the decision or start the eviction process from the beginning.
"We still are waiting for the court's decision on the other tenants," Claudia Tirado, one of the tenants named in the law suit, wrote in an email to Mission Local.
Tirado has been an active participant in the protests outside the building where she lives.
"Why doesn't he buy a regular house, why does he have to take seven units off the rental market," she asked at an earlier protest outside Halprin's building.
Halprin did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.