Hillsdale Apartments renters Don Swall and Vanessa Vachon have filed a class action lawsuit against their new landlord, Anil Dwivedi. | File photo by Ryan Burns.



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Renters of Eureka’s Hillsdale Apartments have filed a class action lawsuit against their new landlord — Dwivedi Tower, LLC, owned by 33-year-old real estate investor Anil Dwivedi — in order to prevent unlawful rent increases and other alleged violations of the California Tenant Protection Act. 

Anil Dwivedi’s LinkedIn profile photo.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Humboldt County Superior Court, accuses Dwivedi of evicting tenants without just cause and refusing to provide relocation assistance as required by law. It also says Dwivedi has threatened and continues to threaten to evict tenants who refuse to sign the unlawful new lease terms.

The suit was filed by attorney Jeffrey Slack, a partner with the Eureka firm of Janssen Malloy, LLP, on behalf of tenants Don Swall and Vanessa Vachon, as well as any other state residents who are or were tenants of the two buildings recently purchased by Dwivedi: the Hillsdale Apartments, at 1140 E Street, and Eureka Central Residence, at 333 E Street.

“Since purchasing the Eureka Central Residences and Hillsdale Apartments, Defendants have systematically attempted to impose unlawful rental increases on its tenants through intimidation and threats of eviction if their demands for unlawful rental increases are not met,” the complaint says.

In an email to the Outpost, Slack says there’s a court hearing scheduled for Monday to request a temporary restraining to prevent Dwivedi from charging the unlawful rent increased and from evicting tenants who refuse to pay it.

Some of the residents, including Swall and Vachon, had already enlisted the help of Legal Services of Northern California, a nonprofit organization offering free legal assistance to low-income people and other vulnerable populations. However, this class action suit is broader in scope. It seeks a court injunction and financial damages while aiming to represent not just the current tenants but also those who were evicted or who moved out in response to the new lease terms.

The suit asks the court to void any and all of the unlawful new leases and award defendants triple damages, which it says are warranted because Dwivedi acted “willfully with oppression, fraud or malice.”

After purchasing the Hillsdale Apartments last month, Dwivedi imposed rent increases ranging from 59 percent to 82 percent, the lawsuit alleges. Unless he’s restrained, the complaint argues, Dwivedi actions will continue to present his tenants with “the impossible choice” of becoming homeless and risking their health “or foregoing necessities of life in order to afford their rent.”

An email seeking comment from Dwivedi was not immediately returned. We’ll update readers if and when he replies.

Scroll down for links to both the complaint and the application for restraining order.

The Hillsdale Apartments, a 106-year-old building on E Street in Eureka, were purchased last month by Dwivedi Tower, LLC. | File photo by Andrew Goff.

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