Opinion ID: 1384769
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Lee Matter

Text: In March 1981, petitioner executed a lease application under penalty of perjury for a large home in Carmel Valley owned by Edwin Lee. Petitioner asserted in the application that his former landlord was named Matthew Cervelli, and that he had left his previous rented residence because the lease had expired. Petitioner also claimed that he had never been evicted, and that he had never willfully and intentionally refused to pay rent when due. Lee contacted Cervelli, who stated that petitioner was an excellent tenant who timely paid his rent. Cervelli was not petitioner's prior landlord, however, but a close friend. The actual owner of petitioner's prior leased property was Angelo Taddeo. Petitioner had repeatedly failed to pay rent to Taddeo, who served petitioner in January 1981 with a three-day notice to pay $2,000 in rent due or quit the premises. Petitioner entered into a compromise involving the payment to Taddeo of a certain sum of cash, the execution of a promissory note for the balance of outstanding rent, and the surrender of the premises after a limited extension of his tenancy. On the basis of the false representations made in the lease application, Lee rented petitioner his residential property. On five separate occasions in 1982 and 1983, petitioner knowingly executed checks to Lee for rent due against insufficient funds. The checks were dishonored, but subsequently paid.