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BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A judge has ruled in favor of a Russian family who said they’re charged a higher rent than Ukrainian refugees in their downtown Palo Alto apartment building.
Judge Daniel Nishigaya cited a case from 1985 in Orange County, where a man visited a car wash on “Ladies’ Day” and asked to get the same discount offered to women.
The Supreme Court found the car wash’s business practices amounted to sex-based discrimination. The lawsuit over rents alleges discrimination based on national origin, Nishigaya said in his May 15 ruling. He overruled a motion from the property owner to dismiss the case form Santa Clara County Superior Court. The lawsuit was filed in March 2024 by residents Stuti Kochhar and Pavel Zheltov, who live in a one-bedroom apartment with their child at 345 Forest Ave. for $3,596 per month.
Zheltov was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States in 2004.
Kochhar was born in India, grew up England and immigrated to the United States in 2014, their suit said.
The Staller Court Apartments are owned by developers William and Stephen Reller, who have an office on the first floor on Gilman Street.
The Rellers allegedly started offering apartments to Ukrainian families at free or reduced rents in June 2022, the suit said.
They participated in a federal program called Uniting for Ukraine that allowed Ukrainians with a sponsor in the United States to relocate for two years, supporting the Biden administration’s goal of settling 100,000 refugees from the war with Russia.
The Rellers said they were supporting property manager Halyna Dankovska’s family of four, with kids ages 13 and 4 living in Ukraine.
“Upon their arrival in the USA, I will guarantee accommodations for this family, at 345 Forest Ave., free of charge, for a period of one year,” the Rellers said in the letter that was included in the suit.
Still there
Kochhar and Zheltov said the Ukrainian family continues to live in the building with free or reduced rents.
In response, the Rellers said the tenants don’t have proof of discrimination.
The Rellers said the letter offered assistance to a single family as a humanitarian response to a geopolitical crisis and wasn’t a systematic policy or pattern.
“Nowhere in that June 2022 letter does it say ‘all Ukrainian refugees get free rent’ or something similar … This was a very isolated and specific offer,” attorney Ashlee Gonzales said in an unsuccessful motion to dismiss the case.
No one should be punished for being kind. I salute the Rellers.
I agree that no one should be punished for being kind, but I can see why this didn’t sit well for the other families that had to pay rent. I agree with the judge’s decision.
What specific term did the landlord breach in the Kochhar and Zheltov rental agreements? The plaintiff-residents willingly signed a contract to pay $3,596 per month. If the tenants are unhappy with the landlord’s pricing policy, their remedy is simple: leave. They are free to rent elsewhere once their lease expires.
Landlords own their buildings as private property. Therefore, they should have the unencumbered right to rent or give away rent to whomever they choose, for whatever reason they choose. This case was wrongly decided.
“Discrimination based on national origin.” The judge is following the law.