Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Certainly. If you have a valid cause of action against someone you can sue any time within the statutory period of time [statute of limitation]. I do not know that suing first has any advantage; it definitely results in the landlord filing a cross-complaint against you, while it is possible that if you do nothing he will not pursue you as he probably thinks you have no significant assets he can collect.

A preemptive strike is often a very powerful strategy.