Peninsula Woman, 97, Dies Fighting Eviction From Home of 66 Years

BURLINGAME, CA- A 97-year-old woman fighting a legal battle to stay in her Burlingame home of more than 60 years has died, and her lawyers and roommate are blaming housing issues as a factor in her death.

"There is no doubt that the callous eviction of Marie Hatch has caused her death," attorneys Nanci Nishimura and Nancy Fineman said in a statement.

Georgia Rothrock, who lived in the cottage south of San Francisco for the last three decades, told the NY Daily News that her roommate had become weak recently, and caught a virus.

"I think the recent upset about the rental really sort of did her in, and then she contracted a virus, was really short of breath. She had a pounding heart. It was just too much for her," she told the Daily News.

A GoFundMe page set up last week by a loved one to help Hatch stay in her home also blamed the legal fight.

"She was unable to fight off the respiratory virus that landed her in the hospital a couple of days ago," a Thursday night update states. "She was at home with her son when she died. She has been through a lot since February 11, and her body and spirit were too weak to sustain her."

Nishimura and Fineman - with the law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy - said they plan to continue their fight on behalf of Rothrock.

The suit claimed damages for anguish associated with proceedings to evict Hatch and Rothrock from their cottage in the 600 block of California Drive.

Hatch reportedly had a verbal agreement with the original landlord, but in mid-February she received a 60-day eviction notice from a lawyer representing the current owner's estate.

"Although she had been promised that she could live in the house for life based upon a decades-old contract with Vivian Kroeze, the estranged spouse of Kroeze’s granddaughter, David Kantz, started eviction proceedings against Hatch this month," attorneys said in a news release. "He originally threatened her eviction during the holidays last December."

Meanwhile, Kantz said in a press release via his attorney that he did not have any "personal knowledge" of the verbal contract, and that a provision in a family trust requires the Burlingame property to be sold this year.

The GoFundMe account that was set up for Hatch had raised more than $47,000 as of Friday morning, as donations continued to roll in.

Patch is told that money will now be mostly used for funeral expenses.

"It's all happened very quickly and there is a lot to absorb, but, I have decided that with what is left over after paying funeral expenses, having a celebration of Marie's life, helping her son clear out and clean the house and paying medical bills, I would like the remainder of the funds to go to help her roommate and to Burlingame Advocates for Renters," Lisa Krieger tells Patch. "There may be additional expenses that I haven't thought of, but as of now...that's my wish list. I am also returning money to those who recently donated and who ask for it."

– Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

(Screenshot via KPIX 5)