Macias v. Lange
| Decision Date | 01 April 2016 |
| Docket Number | CASE NO. 14cv2763-GPC(JMA) |
| Parties | ERIKA MACIAS AND CYNTHIA RICH, Plaintiffs, v. MYRON LANGE, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of California |
ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AS TO PLAINTIFF MACIAS AND GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AS TO PLAINTIFF RICH
Before the Court are Defendant's motion for summary judgment as to Plaintiff Macias and Defendant's motion for summary judgment as to Plaintiff Rich's allegations of sexual harassment while they were tenants at Defendant's properties. Plaintiffs filed an opposition on February 19, 2016. (Dkt. No. 49.) Defendant filed replies on March 4, 2016. (Dkt. Nos. 56, 57.) A hearing was held on March 25, 2016. (Dkt. No. 61.) Christopher Brancart, Esq., Branden Buter, Esq. and Rosaline Spencer, Esq. appeared on behalf of Plaintiffs, and Seth Bobroff, Esq. appeared on behalf of Defendant. Based on the briefs, the supporting documentation, the applicable law, and arguments raised at oral argument, the Court DENIES Defendant's motion for summary judgment as to Plaintiff Macias, and GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Defendant's motion for summary judgment as to Plaintiff Rich.
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On November 19, 2014, Plaintiffs Erika Macias ("Macias") and Cynthia Rich ("Rich") filed a complaint against Defendant Myron Lange ("Defendant") for violations of the Fair Housing Act ("FHA"), 42 U.S.C. § 3601, et seq.; California Fair Employment and Housing Act ("FEHA"), Cal. Gov't Code sections 12927, 12955, et seq.; California Civil Code section 51.9 ("section 51.9"); California Ralph Act, ("Ralph Act"), Cal. Civ. Code section 51.7; California Unruh Civil Rights Act ("Unruh Act"), Cal. Civ. Code section 51; breach of the covenant of quiet use and enjoyment; and invasion of privacy. (Dkt. No. 1, Compl.) Defendant is the owner of about eight rental houses and apartments in the San Diego area. After retiring from the Navy in 1980, he obtained his real estate license and has been self-employed since then. Macias was a tenant of Defendant from 2001 until the end of 2013, and Rich has been a tenant of Defendant since 2011.
Plaintiff Macias and her family, which included four children2, rented a dwellinglocated on 751 Jewell Drive owned by Defendant in 2001 until 20143 after the property was sold. (Dkt. No. 47-5, Bobroff Decl., Ex. 2, Macias Depo. at 29:21-30:4; 48:23-25; 49:1-50:7; 175:17-19.) Rent was due on the 10th of the month, and since Defendant only wanted cash for rent payment, she would bring the rent payments to his house. (Dkt. No. 52-1, Brancart Decl., Ex. 1, Macias Depo. at 91:6-8; 122:11-12;134:17-20; 135:15-19.)
The sexual harassment by Defendant began sometime after 2006 or 2007 when Plaintiff's husband left. (Id. at 90:23-91:9; 92:6-12; 93:12-18.) The first incident occurred when Defendant lived at the Lemon Grove property and she brought him the rent payment. (Id. at 90:25-91:11.) When she was inside Defendant's house, he said "hold on," and then locked the front and back doors. (Id. ) He then approached her, grabbed her around her waist, and told her that she had beautiful breasts and asked whether he could kiss her. (Id. at 91:13-15.) Plaintiff pushed him away and said, which was to pay rent. (Id. at 91:16-20.) Defendant backed off because he knew she was not happy. (Id. at 91:21-22.) She stated she was really scared and shaking. (Id. at 90:25-91:2; 91:21-23.) She told Defendant that her brother and boyfriend were outside waiting. (Id. at 91:24-25.) After she told him she was there to pay rent, she got up and walked out. (Id. at 92:3-5.) After that first incident, she called Rito Chavez, Defendant's handyman. (Id. at 93:6-11.) She was crying and told him what happened. (Id. at 93:6-11.) Since she did not want to be alone with Defendant, she asked Chavez to let her know what day he would be at the properties since Defendant had asked Macias to clean his properties. (Id. at 93:6-11.)
Around 2006 or 2007, Plaintiff also stopped working at her job with the city schools and she started being late on her rent payments. (Id. at 92:6-12; 93:14-18; 94:2-8; 94:21-24; 263:22-25.) Therefore, Defendant offered her a job cleaning hisproperties to assist in paying the rent on time. (Id.) Whenever Macias cleaned, Defendant was always present. (Id. at 94:25-95:5.) He would sit on the couch with a shot of tequila, and they would talk while she cleaned and he would tell her where to clean. (Id. at 101:22-102:2; 102:21-103:6.) He made comments about how she looked good on her knees, and asked to see her breasts. (Id. at 100:13-17; 101:17-19). Another time, she would clean around the couches and he said "ooh, let me see those beautiful breasts again." (Id. at 107:16-22.) She tried to ignore his comments and blow it off because as a low-income single mother with a large family, she could not afford to move and was afraid of being evicted. (Id. at 104:4-17.) She cleaned his properties more than ten times. (Id. at 94:11-20.)
Defendant also asked her to marry him, to leave her children with her mother and move in with him. (Id. at 62:22-25.) On several occasions, he asked if he could kiss her. (Id. at 63:12-17.) He would comment about her breasts every couple or every few months when she went to pay rent,. (Id. at 122:4-22.) On most occasions, she would say something like "Mr. Lange, don't do that" or "Don't say that." (Id. at 122:23-123:4.) When she cleaned, he asked to see her breasts about three times. (Id. at 98:9-13; 107:10-13; 108:17-22.) He commented that she had beautiful breasts more than ten times. (Id. at 120:9-20.) On a few occasions, he stated she had a thick body. (Id. at 124:17-19.) He also told Macias she was "hard to resist" while she was working for him. (Dkt. No. 51, SSUF, No. 36.) But he also made appropriate comments that she looked nice or that she doing a good job cleaning. (Dkt. No. 47-5, Bobroff Decl., Ex. 2, Macias Depo. at 123:5-13.)
Defendant paid Macias $10 per hour on the day she cleaned his Menlo property. (Dkt. No. 52-1, Brancart Decl., Ex. 1, Macias Depo. at 102:3-11.) However, at times, when she could not pay her rent on time, he would not pay her for cleaning. (Id. at 104:22-105:5.) While she testified she was working for him separate and apart from the rental agreement, (Id. at 104:19-21), if she didn't want to clean he would comment, "oh, you don't want to work, you must not want to live here" or "you must not want to,you know, make money to pay your rent." (Id. at 106:5-13; 14-21.) Since his comments always alluded to eviction, she was afraid of being evicted. (Id. at 105:24-106:1; 106:14-21.) On another occasion when she cleaned the Menlo condo, she was not paid because he told her to take it off the late fee. (Id. at 107:10-108:10.)
In order to avoid being alone with Defendant, Macias brought one of her teenage daughters with her as often as possible. (Id. at 114:23-115:4.) But the sexual harassment did not stop. (Id. at 109:11-20; 112:10.) One time, Defendant walked by Macias while she was cleaning and patted her butt while her high school daughter was present. (Id. at 111:15-112:5.) On another time, her daughter saw Defendant brush his elbow against Macias' breast. (Id. at 113:17-23.) Her other daughter was present during two additional incidents when Defendant bumped her breast and butt. (Id. at 115:22-116:9.) When he bumped his elbow on her breast, he said "oops" so Macias testified that it could have been an accident. (Id. at 114:7-18.) She would clean about once a month and spent about three hours cleaning. (Id. at 116:18-25.)
Macias testified that she responded to all the incidents by asking him to stop and to respect her but he would just laugh or say she was hard to resist. (Id. at 118:6-21.) He never touched her at her property. (Id. at 118:22-24.)
Macias had a history of being late in paying her rent to Defendant. (Dkt. No. 51, SSUF, No. 3.) Defendant would not charge a late fee when she was late paying rent but would sometimes say, "just work it off." (Dkt. No. 47-5, Bobroff Decl., Ex. 2, Macias Depo. at 108:6-16.)
On June 10, 2013, Macias called Defendant and asked for a short extension of time to pay June's rent. (Brancart Decl., Ex. 1, Macias Depo. at 60:20-61:8.) Defendant said it was fine as long as it was paid on June 24, 2013. (Id. at 61:3-5.) On June 24, 2013, Macias went to Defendant's house, because Defendant did not answer his phone, to request an additional extension to pay her June rent because her boyfriend had been arrested. (Id. at 52:4-10; 61:9-14.) Defendant invited her in and offered her a shot of tequila as he was about to have a shot of tequila. (Id. at 64:5-17.) Sheresponded "sure" and he gave her a shot of tequila. (Id. at 64:15-21.) They conversed for a few minutes and then Macias told him she was there to talk about the rent and said "I really need a big favor from you." (Id. at 64:15-18.) He responded, "I'll do a favor if you do me a favor." (Id. at 56:2-4.) Then he said, "What I'd really like is a good blow job." (Id. at 66:14-20.) Then he came close to Macias' face, tried to kiss her and said something like, "just let me kiss you." (Id. at 82:2-14.) Defendant was close enough that she felt his breath on her face. (Id. at 90:16-18.) On that day, he also asked her for a kiss. (Id. at 81:20-21:1.) Macias backed up with a nervous giggle questioning why he was doing that since they were in a tenant relationship. (Id. at 66:21-67:2) Defendant told Macias it was because she was hard to resist. (Id. at 67:3-5.) Then she said, (Id. at 67:6-8.)
Then Defendant asked something like "how about you get me somebody to help me out?" (Id. at 67:9-11.) He asked Macias who she was with and sh...
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