A San Francisco landlord is facing allegations that he murdered a tenant in order to put his property on the market.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court accuses landlord Phillipe Chagniot of fatally shooting his tenant, Eric Bigone, outside a rental home in the Sunset District after a months-long effort to force him out, the San Francisco Standard reported.
The suit, brought by Bigone’s son on behalf of his father’s estate, alleges the killing was the culmination of a campaign to vacate the property at 2518 47th Avenue so it could be sold free of a renter. The allegations have not been proven in court, and Chagniot has not yet responded to the complaint.
According to the filing, 58-year-old Bigone had rented the single-family home since 2023 and paid $3,200 per month in cash. The lawsuit claims the landlords insisted on cash payments and later began pressuring him to leave, alleging that Chagniot and his wife, Barbara, issued improper notices, threatened eviction, refused rent payments and falsely claimed they would use California’s Ellis Act to remove the property from the rental market.
Bigone ultimately hired an attorney simply to continue paying rent, according to the lawsuit.
When those efforts failed, Chagniot allegedly escalated eviction efforts dramatically. The suit claims he ambushed Bigone in the early morning of May 17 after setting fire to the tenant’s car and spray-painting nearby security cameras. When Bigone came outside, Chagniot allegedly shot him with a silenced MAC-10 submachine gun. Bigone died at the scene.
Chagniot, 68, was arrested May 27 and is being held without bail. Prosecutors charged him with murder, arson and multiple weapons offenses, including possession of a silencer and a large-capacity magazine.
The lawsuit also highlights actions allegedly taken after the killing. It alleges Barbara Chagniot contacted Bigone’s son the next day to ask when he planned to vacate the property, while the Chagniots’ attorney moved within days to take possession of the home.
Beyond wrongful death claims, the suit alleges violations of San Francisco’s rent ordinance, which prohibits bad-faith tenant harassment. Bigone’s family is seeking damages and an injunction blocking the defendants from selling or transferring properties, arguing any property sales could be used to shield them from a future judgment.
— Chris Malone Méndez
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