On Sept. 27, 2012, plaintiff Alan Bayer, 44, an attorney; his wife, plaintiff Heather Borlase, 43, an attorney; and plaintiff Phyllis Grosz, a retired 72 year old, all tenants of an apartment complex known as “Casa Madrona,” located at 110-116 Frederick Street, San Francisco, were notified by the property manager, Dennis Doyle, of a new policy banning all tenants from using a communal space. The tenants alleged that Doyle instituted the policy in order to ban tenant families from allowing their young children to play in the communal space. In addition, Doyle informed the tenants, orally and in writing, that there were no play areas on the property. The tenants complained to Doyle about the changes and sought to discuss the matter with him. However, instead of doing so, Doyle reconfigured the communal space so that it was no longer usable for social purposes at all. The landlords, Frederick Morse and the Morse Family Trust, approved and authorized Doyle’s acts. Bayer, Borlase and Grosz sued Morse; the Morse Family Trust; Doyle; and Doyle’s alleged alter ego, Realty Guild Inc. The tenants assert that the defendants’ actions constituted violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Unruh Act, and the San Francisco tenant harassment ordinance. Arthur Mills, who was doing business as Arthur Mills Construction Services was added to the case, but he was ultimately dismissed from the matter prior to trial. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the tenants were discriminated against because they either had children, such as Bayer and Borlase, a married couple, or were known to care for tenants’ children in the communal space at Casa Madrona, such as Grosz, a retiree. Counsel also contended that Doyle, with the landlords’ consent, retaliated against them for their standing up for their rights. Defense counsel argued that Doyle had sufficient justification to bar social use of the communal area, in part because of conduct by certain tenants over the years, and that the reconfiguration was done for safety purposes., Bayer, Borlase and Grosz did not have any economic damages, but claimed that they suffered mental and emotional distress as a result of the violations. Specifically, they claimed that children no longer had a safe place to learn to walk and socialize with other children and adults. They also claimed that they could no longer take children into the communal space and enjoy being with them without having to venture into an urban environment. In addition, Bayer, Borlase and Grosz sought punitive damages, alleging that Doyle and Morse acted with malice and oppression.