If They Respond: Pre-Litigation Negotiation Phase
For serious disputes, commonly $1,500 flat.
Available after the landlord responds, especially if counsel appears or a conditional settlement offer is made. The demand-letter packages above already include review of the first response and a short next-step recommendation. If the matter then moves into actual back-and-forth with opposing counsel, this is the next phase.
Includes: review and analysis of the response, attorney counter-letter, written settlement negotiations through settlement or impasse, strategy updates, and draft/review/revision of one settlement agreement or mutual release for this dispute (up to two client-side revision rounds and reasonable redline exchange).
The phase ends when: a settlement is signed, either side declares impasse, the client instructs me to stop, litigation or arbitration begins, or the matter materially changes.
Excludes: filing a complaint, initiating arbitration, court appearances, discovery, enforcement, new claims or parties, complex multi-party releases, post-settlement disputes (separately quoted).
Email me to start the negotiation phase
The legal theories that drive most commercial-tenant and premises cases
- Negligence (Civ. Code § 1714). The landlord, facility, or operator owed a duty of reasonable care, breached it, and caused the damage. The duty arises from the lease, the facility's actual or constructive knowledge, and the foreseeability of the harm. Damages: property loss, lost profits, consequential, sometimes personal injury.
- Breach of contract / breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Most commercial leases contain express or implied promises of fitness for a particular use, security, structural integrity, common-area maintenance, and timely response to reported issues. Failure to perform on a material promise gives rise to contract damages and, sometimes, tort recovery.
- Premises liability. Owner or operator of a commercial facility owes a duty to maintain the property in reasonably safe condition and to warn of known hazards. Where the injury results from willful conduct or a violation of law, Civil Code § 1668 bars a contractual waiver, and pre-injury personal-injury releases face additional public-policy limits.
- Conversion. When the landlord/facility wrongfully exercises dominion over your property (improper auction sale, withholding access, refusing return after lease termination, holding inventory hostage), conversion gives statutory damages, punitive exposure, and attorney-fee shifting in some contexts.
- Statutory consumer-protection claims. Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 (UCL) covers unfair, deceptive, or unlawful business practices. False advertising, deceptive marketing of security or facility conditions, and systemic failures to follow contract or statute can drive UCL claims with restitution and injunctive relief.
- Loss of quiet enjoyment, constructive eviction, and nuisance. A commercial landlord owes the covenant of quiet enjoyment under Civil Code § 1927. When the landlord fails to maintain the HVAC, the common areas, or the services the lease requires, or tolerates crime or a nuisance that drives customers away, the tenant can have claims for breach of that covenant, for nuisance under Civil Code §§ 3479 to 3480, and for constructive eviction where the interference is serious enough to force the tenant out. Commercial leases carry no implied warranty of habitability, which is a residential doctrine, so the lease terms and these theories, not habitability, are what a commercial tenant relies on.
Commercial-tenant and premises scenarios that often create leverage
Scenario 1: Landlord ignores repair requests; tenant's property is damaged
Tenant reports a roof leak, broken HVAC, plumbing issue, or pest problem. Landlord delays or refuses to address it. Tenant's inventory, equipment, or operations are damaged. The leverage is in the documented timeline: when the issue was reported, what was promised, what was actually done, and the gap between known harm and actual remediation.
Scenario 2: Pest infestation in a commercial property
Rats, roaches, bedbugs, or other pests invade tenant's space. Tenant reports; landlord/operator either denies the issue or attempts cleanup that fails. The strongest evidence is facility-wide documentation that defeats the "your unit caused it" defense, plus prior complaints by other tenants. Adds personal-injury exposure if anyone is hospitalized or develops illness.
Scenario 3: Theft or break-in with security failures
Inventory or equipment stolen from a leased facility. Landlord disclaims any security obligation. The leverage is in: marketing materials that promised security, prior break-in pattern, failed security infrastructure, and breach of the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment.
Scenario 4: Improper lien, lockout, or seizure of tenant property
Landlord locks tenant out of premises, seizes inventory, or attempts to auction property without following the statutory procedures. Procedural defects convert routine collection into a tenant's conversion and UCL claim. Self-help eviction is unlawful in California for commercial leases as well as residential.
Scenario 5: Misrepresentation about facility condition
At lease signing, landlord represented that the facility had specific conditions or features (security, climate control, condition of premises, exclusivity, no other competing tenants in the same trade). Reality differs and tenant suffers loss. Theories: fraud in the inducement, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, UCL.
Scenario 6: Personal injury from facility conditions
Tenant, employee, or invitee is hospitalized after exposure to facility conditions (mold, pest droppings, fumes, sewage, structural collapse). Two-track case: property damage plus personal-injury premises liability. Where the landlord's conduct was willful or unlawful, Civil Code § 1668 bars a liability waiver, and personal-injury releases face additional public-policy scrutiny.
Scenario 7: Landlord will not maintain HVAC, CAM, or common areas, or tolerates crime around your space
The lease requires the landlord to keep the HVAC running, maintain the common areas, and provide the services your CAM charges pay for, and the landlord does not deliver. Or criminal activity around your storefront or patio drives customers away and the landlord ignores it. For a commercial tenant the leverage is in the lease and the documented timeline: what the lease promised, what you paid in CAM, what you reported, and the gap before anything was done. The claims are breach of the lease, breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment under Civil Code § 1927, nuisance under Civil Code §§ 3479 to 3480, negligence, and, where the interference is serious enough that you had to leave, constructive eviction. A CAM reconciliation or audit dispute can run in parallel.
First-30-days action checklist after a commercial-premises damage incident
- Preserve the evidence. Photograph and video everything, including the wider context. Do not clean, dispose, or repair until documented.
- Pull every related document. Lease, addenda, insurance policy, communications log, prior repair requests, marketing materials, prior tenant communications.
- Demand the landlord's records in writing. Prior complaints, repair logs, security incident records, vendor invoices for cleaning or pest control, and inspection reports.
- File the insurance claim immediately. Both your business policy and any landlord-required insurance. Get any denial in writing with the policy citation.
- Request medical evaluation. If anyone was exposed to harmful conditions, get evaluated and ask the doctor to note potential connection.
- Calendar the deadlines. Negligence: 2 years. Breach of written contract: 4 years. Conversion: 3 years. UCL: 4 years. Statutory landlord-tenant claims often have shorter deadlines.
- Do not sign a release. Especially not before personal-injury or latent damage is fully assessed.
- Document the lost income. Prior-period revenue, the specific period of inability to operate, mitigation efforts, and the causal connection back to the landlord's conduct.
