Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Nobody can predict what will happen in small claims court - it is a court of equity which means that the results may not follow the strict letter of the law. If she can prove the condition of the house before they moved in, and the condition after they moved out, and can prove her damages in terms of cost to repair, then she should prevail. Unfortunately, to do so, she will have to return to California for the trial on the complaint. Small Claims court is very low risk from her perspective, so there is no real harm in filing the case and seeing if she prevails. Collecting the judgment may be a whole different matter.

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