Glass v. Najafi

In Glass v. Najafi (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 45, the landlords obtained a writ of possession and evicted the tenants even though there was no judgment granting the landlords the right of possession. The tenants moved to recall and quash the writ of possession, and the court granted that motion. The tenants then filed an action against the landlords seeking damages for forcible entry and detainer. On appeal from a judgment in favor of the landlords, the appellate court concluded the tenants could not recover for forcible detainer. The court distinguished Bedi by noting that the landlords in that case had relied on "forceful self-help" by knowingly manipulating the marshal to act on a writ that was invalid because the underlying judgment had been set aside. (Glass, supra, at pp. 50-51.) In Glass, on the other hand, the landlords had relied on "a properly issued court order, which was ultimately determined to have been erroneously issued as the result of legal error." (Id. at p. 51.) Because the landlords had "acted in accordance with orderly legal process," they could not be held liable for forcible detainer. (Ibid.)