By moving into the apartments, the Silveras would be living adjacent to their son and within close proximity to Mrs. Silvera's elderly mother.

"She's been an invalid for five years," Mrs. Silvera said. "I am her oldest daughter so she depends very much one me," she said.

But Fujioka said the eviction is illegal.

"It's apparent that [the Silveras] don't need this as their primary home," he said. "It's basically like a vacation home."

Additionally, Fujioka claimed that Mrs. Silvera's testimony to the court was "inherently untruthful."

"She said she didn't know where her husband was going to be living. She didn't know if her husband would be at work at Harvard," Fujioka said.

"That's not true. My husband is on sabbatical this year-he spent the first nine months of the year in San Francisco," Mrs. Silvera said.

Transcripts from the trial obtained by the Crimson show that, when Fujioka asked Mrs. Silvera about her husband's schedule, she testified that "I was of the understanding he may be at Harvard. I don't what know his schedule is."

Mrs. Silvera said that at the time of the trial, her husband's schedule had not been officially set.

Although Professor Silvera teaches a seminar this semester, "he can leave at any time," Mrs. Silvera said.

Since Professor Silvera planned to remain at Harvard for the fall term after the eviction was to be in effect, the Silveras violated the rent law, Fujioka contends.

"It's a difficult thing to prove that someone would intentionally break the law in the future," Fujioka said.

After months in court, the Silveras' legal bills add up to more than $20,000, Mrs. Silvera said.

Mrs. Silvera also denies that age was a factor in their decision to evict Leong.

"The people living upstairs are just as old as [Leong] is and they pay just as much as he does," she said.