Burlingame: Attorneys for 97-year-old woman file lawsuit to prevent eviction

Attorneys for a frail 97-year-old woman facing eviction filed a lawsuit Friday accusing her landlord of illegally forcing her from the rented cottage she’s called home for most of her life.

Lawyers for a 97-year-old woman facing eviction in Burlingame filed a lawsuit on Friday. She eventually moved to Burlingame, where she met Vivian Kroeze, who first extended the offer of lifetime tenancy at 625 California Drive as a gesture of gratitude for Hatch helping Kroeze after her husband died, according to Hatch’s attorneys.

When she moved in, her landlady and friend made her a promise that she could stay as long as she lives. The person evicting Hatch and Rothrock is the husband of the granddaughter who also died, so he’s now administering her property, which includes a home listed on the Zillow for $1.2 million.

The two homes are now in the hands of David Kantz, who was at one point married to Pamela and assumed ownership upon her death in 2006, according to Fineman.

“I’ll be out on the bus stop bench, surrounded by my boxes of books – my beloved books – and that’s about all I can foresee”, said Hatch’s roommate Georgia Rothrock.

Hatch said the threat of eviction feels like a bad dream. Hatch says she may wind up homeless if evicted, as housing prices in San Mateo County are incredibly high.

The landlord’s attorney put out a press release saying the landlord knows nothing about a guarantee that says Mrs. Hatch could live here for life.

“He’s greedy”, Hatch said. “She can’t do it without your help”, the crowd-funding page reads.

Kantz doesn’t deny that a verbal agreement between his wife’s family and Hatch existed, but he maintains “there’s no contract” and nothing in his wife’s will directs him to keep the home, he told the Chronicle.

But Hatch, who has battled cancer in recent years and suffers from agoraphobia, which makes her afraid to go outside, should not be forced to go anywhere, Fineman said.

Instead, she and her roommate pay $900 a month in rent.

‘I feel bad for the elderly lady, I feel bad for my sons, I feel bad for me’. Reached by phone, she said Hatch was overwhelmed by interview requests and lawyers and wasn’t in a position to speak.

Hatch’s friends have started a GoFundMe account in support of her, and had raised $23,000 for her by February 23.

Joe Cotchett, a high-powered trial lawyer who represented multiple victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, offered to take on Hatch’s case pro-bono. The attorneys say a verbal agreement is still a binding contract.

One of Cotchett’s partners, Nancy Fineman, who has been in touch with Hatch, told the Chronicle that she believes the crisis can be resolved under wrongful eviction law. “Fulfilling the promise of being able to live there for life is not charity, it’s the honorable thing to do”.