Graiwer v. Shokrian CA2/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 23, 2025
DocketB341273
StatusUnpublished

This text of Graiwer v. Shokrian CA2/1 (Graiwer v. Shokrian CA2/1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graiwer v. Shokrian CA2/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 12/23/25 Graiwer v. Shokrian CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

JONATHAN LEHRER GRAIWER, B341273

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 24STCV04722) v.

JASMIN M. SHOKRIAN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Daniel M. Crowley, Judge. Affirmed. Law Offices of Daniel J. Bramzon & Associates, Daniel J. Bramzon and Eric M. Post for Defendant and Appellant. Davidovich Stone Law Group, Niv Davidovich and Jodi C. Rosner for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________________ This is an appeal from a judgment entered in an unlawful detainer action in favor of the landlord, plaintiff and respondent Jonathan Lehrer Graiwer, after the trial court granted his motion for summary judgment against the tenant, defendant and appellant Jasmin M. Shokrian. Shokrian argues the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because the three-day notice to pay rent or quit dated February 8, 2024 overstated the amount of unpaid rent due from September 2023 to February 2024. According to Shokrian, although Graiwer sent three letters notifying her of rent increases during her tenancy, those letters failed to increase lawfully the initial monthly rental rate of $2,750 to $3,034.16. She claims the first letter, dated October 28, 2017, was a nullity because Graiwer mailed it 34 days — instead of 35 days — before the first rent increase stated therein was to take effect on December 1, 2017. Under Shokrian’s theory, because her monthly rental obligation remained $2,750 after December 1, 2017, the other letters from October 2018 and September 2019, respectively, sought rent increases above the percentage limitations imposed by local rent control ordinances. Thus, Shokrian claims she owed only $16,500 for the six-month period at issue, and not the $18,204.96 Graiwer had demanded in the three-day notice to pay rent or quit. Although Shokrian challenged the validity of the October 28, 2017 letter in her opposition to the summary judgment motion, we conclude she failed to preserve for appeal her new theory that the invalidity of that notice caused the October 2018 and September 2019 letters to seek rent increases greater than that allowed by local law. Shokrian advances no other legal theory establishing a triable issue as to whether the

2 three-day notice to pay rent or quit dated February 8, 2024 overstated the amount of rent due. We thus affirm the judgment without addressing whether the October 28, 2017 letter provided Shokrian with sufficient notice of the rent increase scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2017.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND1 We summarize only those facts that are relevant to our disposition of this appeal. In August 2016, Graiwer agreed to lease to Shokrian a residence in Los Angeles, which lease term began on September 1, 2016 and was scheduled to conclude on August 31, 2017. Shokrian agreed to an initial base rent of $2,750 per month due on the first of each month. After the one-year term expired, the lease became a month-to-month tenancy. Graiwer sent three letters to Shokrian informing her of rent increases. In the first letter, which was dated October 28, 2017, Graiwer stated, “[E]ffective December 1, 2017,” Shokrian’s rent would “increase by $82.50 to $2,832.50 per month from the current rent of $2,750.00 per month.” In a letter dated October 2, 2018, Graiwer informed Shokrian her rent would “increase by $84.97 to $2,917.47 per month from the current rent of $2,832.50 per month” “effective December 1, 2018 . . . .” In a letter dated September 11, 2019, Graiwer said, “[E]ffective December 1, 2019, [Shokrian’s] rent . . . w[ould] increase by

1 We derive our Factual and Procedural Background in part from the parties’ admissions in their filings. (Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs v. County of Los Angeles (2023) 94 Cal.App.5th 764, 772, fn. 2 [utilizing this approach].)

3 $116.69 to $3,034.16 per month from the current rent of $2,917.47 per month.” Whereas the October 2, 2018 letter indicates it was “HAND-DELIVERED” and the September 11, 2019 correspondence includes the phrase “MAILED AND HAND-DELIVERED,” no such notation appears in the October 28, 2017 letter. In his declaration submitted in support of the summary judgment motion, Graiwer attested he “mailed these 30-day notices to [Shokrian] more than 30 days before they became effective.” On February 7, 2024, Graiwer served Shokrian with a three-day notice to pay rent or quit dated January 30, 2024, wherein he demanded $39,444.08 for rent owed from September 2020 to September 2021 (COVID notice to pay or quit).2 On February 8, 2024, Graiwer served Shokrian with a three-day notice to pay rent or quit dated February 8, 2024, wherein he demanded $18,204.96 for rent owed from September 2023 to February 2024, which he claimed constituted six months’ unpaid rent at the monthly rate of $3,034.16 (February 8, 2024 notice to pay or quit).3 In his declaration, Graiwer attested, “After three days following service of each [t]hree-day [n]otice, [Shokrian] failed to pay the rent demanded in either [n]otice and . . . continued to fail to pay the rent

2 In his declaration, Graiwer claimed, “This rent became due on August 1, 2023, after the local moratorium on the collection of back rent lifted for COVID rent during the ‘transition period.’ ” 3 In the February 8, 2024 notice to pay or quit, Graiwer stated the rent for each month during that six month period came due on the first of the month, e.g., the rent for February 1, 2024 to February 29, 2024 came due on February 1, 2024.

4 demanded. [Shokrian] continue[d] to occupy the . . . [p]roperty [as of the date of the declaration, to wit, May 30, 2024].” On February 26, 2024, Graiwer filed a verified complaint for unlawful detainer against Shokrian. Shokrian later filed a verified answer to the complaint. Graiwer moved for summary judgment, arguing he was entitled to judgment in his favor based on the COVID notice to pay or quit and the February 8, 2024 notice to pay or quit. In her opposition to the motion, Shokrian argued (1) the COVID notice to pay or quit was defective because it demanded rent accrued more than 12 months before Graiwer served the notice, and (2) the February 8, 2024 notice to pay or quit was defective because it overstated the amount of rent due. Regarding the latter argument, Shokrian maintained that Graiwer’s letter dated October 28, 2017 did not effectively raise the rent because he mailed the letter to Shokrian fewer than 35 days before the effective date of the new rent, that is December 1, 2017, thereby running afoul of Civil Code section 827 and Code of Civil Procedure section 1013.4 The trial court heard and granted Graiwer’s motion on June 10, 2024. The court found the COVID notice to pay or quit was defective because it demanded rent accrued more than 12 months before it had been served. As for the February 8, 2024 notice to pay or quit, the court ruled Civil Code section 827 does not require a notice of rent increase to be mailed to a tenant at least 35 days before it becomes effective, and that Shokrian may have waived her right to challenge the validity of the

4 We describe in greater detail this portion of Shokrian’s opposition in Discussion, part B, post.

5 October 28, 2017 letter by paying the increased rent. The court thus granted summary judgment for Graiwer based on the February 8, 2024 notice to pay or quit.

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Bluebook (online)
Graiwer v. Shokrian CA2/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graiwer-v-shokrian-ca21-calctapp-2025.