Uninhabitable Rentals and Emotional Distress: One Family’s Bay Area Tenant Story

When Uninhabitable Conditions Lead to Mental and Emotional Harm

One of the most difficult parts of a plaintiff attorney's job is discussing mental and emotional distress damages. The idea that you can measure human suffering is honestly kind of mind boggling. How do you put a value on the emotional impact of a broken leg, much less a lifelong illness, or a lost loved one? People often also question how a claim for uninhabitable conditions can lead to mental and emotional distress. Ultimately, regardless of cause, the answer to that question is that emotional distress is worth what a jury says it's worth. Most of the time, that question will never be answered, because the parties involved will settle their case for something less than either side thinks that imaginary jury in their future could have decided, so the whole thing can be resolved with certainty once and for all. Now and again though, even then, I'm left wondering: what would a jury have thought? And that's why I bring you this story, with some details changed to protect the innocent and guilty alike.

Plaintiffs were a family that thought they were enjoying the benefits of a very competitive post-pandemic rental market in the bay area when they found a large single-family home that seemed too good to be true. It had a roomy garage, yard, and large kitchen. There were a few quirks, like a missing patio railing and some renovation debris, but nothing that couldn't be fixed up with a little help from their landlord. Then the weirdness started to creep in.

It's normal to hear the sound of running water through pipes when you open a faucet, but the sound of free falling water like rain inside your walls is less common. Seeing a rat or two around the house isn't out of the ordinary, but a family of them building a nest in the garage is a cause for concern. But the kicker was in one of the bedrooms. Now and again, you'll find an extra room behind another room, like an addition for storage or the like. It's far more shocking to find a secret door in your closet that leads to a room lined with disturbing occult imagery and a canister of ashes of unknown origin. While the faulty plumbing, pests, and debris are common reasons to consider a home uninhabitable, the secret ashes room is a bit harder to classify: maybe it's easiest to call it a cleanliness or maintenance issue.

Nonetheless, this is the most unique basis for emotional distress damages I have ever described, and hopefully always will be. I can't imagine what might top it, and would rather not try to. A colleague of mine settled this case well before trial, much to the relief of all involved I'm sure. How do I know the other side wanted to get this case over with? The check they wrote had six digits to the left of the decimal point.