CAA completes briefing in Alameda eviction moratorium appeal, case now awaits 9th Circuit review

The California Apartment Association has filed its reply brief in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, completing the briefing in its constitutional challenge to Alameda County's COVID-19 eviction moratorium.

The case challenges one of the longest-running and most restrictive eviction bans adopted during the pandemic. For more than three years-from March 2020 to April 2023-Alameda County broadly prohibited evictions for nonpayment of rent and many other lease violations. The ordinance also permanently eliminated eviction as a remedy for rent debt that accrued during the covered period, leaving housing providers legally owed rent but without the ability to recover possession of their property.

CAA and a group of individual housing providers filed suit arguing that the county's policy went beyond traditional housing regulation and instead forced property owners to shoulder the costs of a public policy response to the pandemic.

A federal district court dismissed the case, but CAA and the other plaintiffs appealed, arguing the claims deserve to be heard on their merits.

CAA's newly filed reply brief answers arguments raised by Alameda County earlier this year and asks the 9th Circuit to reverse the dismissal and allow the case to move forward.

With the reply now filed, the case is fully briefed. The 9th Circuit will next schedule oral argument-a process that typically takes several months-before issuing a decision.

CAA will continue updating members as the appeal progresses.