97-year-old woman faces eviction

BURLINGAME, Calif. - Sixty-six years. That's how long Marie Hatch has been living in her home on California Drive in Burlingame. Now at the age of 97, and fighting cancer, the landlord is evicting Marie.

She received an eviction notice telling her she needs to be out by mid-April. That includes the 85-year-old tenant who rents a room from her.

"I'm scared to death inside. I try no to think about it. I'll have a nervous breakdown," Marie said.

Marie says her landlady of six decades told her she could live there the rest of her life, but the landlady has since died, and so has the landlady's daughter and granddaughter.

The attorney for the current landlord issued a statement late Monday saying the house is in a trust that must be sold and "the tenant's family must cooperate in this matter rather than use the media regarding a purported "life tenancy". According to the landlord's personal knowledge. No such guarantee ever existed."

Two attorneys heard about Marie's plight and are taking up her cause at no charge. They say they've got a good case. The attorneys say a verbal agreement is still a binding contract.

A tenants advocacy group says skyrocketing rents are pricing people out of town, and that Marie's case is a prime example.