Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
Mr. Shers and Mr. McCormick,
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. You feedback is very much appreciated.
I have a follow-up question to your prior answers to my question re: multiple (faulty) UD complaints against me and the possibility of suing for infliction of emotional distress. I've pasted below your answers (of part of) to refresh your memory.
I understand how suing for emotional distress can be a 'hard sell', but what if that distress has manifested itself physically? I have psoriasis on my arms and legs which had been controlled, and it has completely blown up since this process began. It is so bad now that it fails to respond to treatment, and in addition to itching like crazy ALL the time, even in my sleep, it has actually become painful on my upper arms and legs. In addition, I'm flaking in copious amounts now and it's causing me great embarrassment.
"... I would consider writing the landlord's attorney and point out that you have proof of paying your rent, the landlord has bad records and no proof of rent not being paid, the notices and complaint are legally improper, and if it goes to trial everything will be dismissed but you will be awarded costs and then will sue for intentional/negligent infliction of emotional distress against the landlord, management company, and him, as they al knew better and have caused you great strain. ....."
Good luck.
George Shers
Law Offices of Georges H. Shers
4170 Glenwood Terrace, Suite #1
Union City, CA 94587
6/12/10, 10:42 pm
Answer (2 of 2)
"I'm with Sher's on everything except the infliction of emotional distress. Proof of damages in emotional distress cases is tough. Without therapy and testimony from psychologists you will be very unlikely to get to a jury. However, this conduct definitely smells to me of abuse of process."
Timothy McCormick
Libris Solutions - Dispute Resolution Services
1990 N. California Blvd., 8th Fl
Walnut Creek, CA 94596"
2 Answers from Attorneys
Mr. McCormick and i agree on everything. I did not mean to imply that obtaining emotional distress damages would be easy, but rather that it should be brought up so that the other side knows they are creating a risk of having to pay you damages if you win.
The reason suing for emotional distress damages is so difficult because normally it is just a person saying I was bothered by what happened and the jury saying "well, that's life". It is different when you can show actual physical injuries or aggravations of pre-existing problems. That does not make it a slam dump, but a jury can now see what actually happened, assuming you can get a physician to verify that. Since the Dr. may charge $4,000 to testify at trial, your damages have to be high enough to absorb that expense.
Mr. Shers is correct. Having physical manifestations is very supportive of an emotinal distress claim, but the physical symptoms you describe are very indirect. You will have to find a doctor and a psychological expert to say your psoriasis is caused by the emotional distress. You will need records that prove it was in remission before the problems and then came back, and the doctors will have to say it didn't just coincidentially come back. Then you will be faced with experts from the other side who will have the right to give you physical and psychological examinations as part of discovery. They will then opine that your symptoms have nothing to do with emotional distress and that you are normally upset by what has happened but not legally "emotionally distressed" by it. Then it will be up to a jury to decide whether your experts or their experts are correct. If you lose you could be (not necessarily but could be) ordered to pay their expert witness costs. If you win, you might not get yours paid. Then there is the question of damages. What is the additional psoriasis problem worth in dollars? Who knows what a jury would say.
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