## Facts

- Virginia Jordan leased an apartment from Andrew B. Talbot under a written lease requiring rent payment on the first of each month.
- The lease purported to give the landlord a right of reentry upon breach and a lien on the tenant’s personal effects to secure rent and other charges.
- After Jordan became two months behind on rent, Talbot, during her temporary absence and without her consent, unlocked the apartment, entered, removed her furniture to a warehouse, and refused to allow her to reoccupy the unit.
- Jordan sued for forcible entry and detainer and for conversion of her personal property.
- A jury awarded Jordan compensatory damages on the forcible entry/detainer and conversion claims and awarded punitive damages.
- The trial court granted Talbot’s motion for a new trial based on trial error and also granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV).
- Jordan appealed from the new trial order and from the order granting JNOV.

## Issues

1. Whether an order granting JNOV is independently appealable before entry of final judgment.
2. Whether a landlord’s contractual right of reentry permits unilateral, nonjudicial repossession against a tenant in actual, peaceable possession.
3. Whether entry without physical violence, followed by exclusion of the tenant, can constitute forcible entry and/or forcible detainer under California’s forcible entry and detainer statutes.
4. Whether removing and storing a tenant’s property pursuant to a claimed lien supports a conversion claim.

## Decision

- The appeal from the order granting JNOV was dismissed as nonappealable because it was preliminary to final judgment.
- The order granting a new trial was affirmed.
- The court held that a landlord may not rely on a lease’s reentry clause to dispossess a tenant in actual, peaceable possession without using judicial process; lease provisions authorizing forcible self-help are void as against public policy.
- The court explained that “force” for forcible entry/detainer purposes includes threats or intimidation used to keep a tenant out, not only physical violence.
- The court indicated that the conversion theory warranted retrial because evidence that the property was warehoused in the tenant’s name and remained recoverable weakened proof of dominion inconsistent with the tenant’s rights.

## Legal Principles

- Forcible entry and detainer statutes are designed to prevent breaches of the peace by requiring parties, including owners and landlords, to seek judicial remedies rather than take possession by self-help.
- A tenant in actual, peaceable possession is protected against unilateral dispossession even when the landlord claims a superior right to possession.
- A contractual right of reentry does not authorize a landlord to reenter and exclude a tenant without judicial process; lease terms purporting to permit forcible self-help repossession are void as contrary to public policy.
- “Force” and “menace” include conduct and words that effectively exclude or intimidate a possessor and can support a finding of forcible detainer when possession is withheld through threats or exclusionary conduct.
- Conversion requires an exercise of dominion over property inconsistent with the owner’s rights; storage and continued recoverability may undermine proof of conversion depending on the circumstances.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed a new trial order and clarified that landlords must use judicial eviction procedures rather than self-help reentry to dispossess tenants in peaceable possession, and that intimidation or threats used to maintain exclusion can satisfy forcible entry and detainer statutes, while conversion depends on proof of dominion inconsistent with the tenant’s ownership.


Jordan v. Talbot, 361 P.2d 20 (Cal. 1961)