7
Prometheus’s employee Jennifer Lau testified that the tenants of 1732A made
several complaints about bedbugs. Terminex employee Joel Pangilinan testified that the
1732A bedbug infestation was “severe.”
The Hjelms’s expert on bedbugs, Dr. Richard Kaae, confirmed that Prometheus
had not followed its own bedbug policy in this case—indeed, that its bedbug policy was
inadequate, even if it had been followed. Because bedbug detection is so difficult, it
should not be left to Prometheus’s untrained maintenance crew.
The evidence also established that Prometheus failed to adequately train their
management personnel, and that there was such significant turnover that new employees
often did not even have the ability to consult with their predecessors. Kevin Song, the
property manager at the complex in August 2012, testified that he received very little
training or support from management. When he began his job, he learned that one of the
buildings had a bedbug infestation that had not been addressed for over a year. He had
no prior experience dealing with bedbugs, and was unaware of Prometheus’s bedbug
policy.
Multiple witnesses testified to observing the raw sewage on the property behind
the apartment buildings. Lau testified that she called for support to clean up raw sewage
upon seeing toilet paper floating up onto the property grounds, and cleaned it up herself
on at least one occasion. Song said that Prometheus just fixed the sewage in a
“patchwork” way. All this was against the background that Prometheus’s own expert,
David Saldivar, conceded that raw sewage is a public health and safety emergency.
None of this is mentioned in Prometheus’s brief, which recites the facts favorable
to it. Such conduct is “not to be condoned,” as we said in In re Marriage of Davenport
(2011) 194 Cal.App.4th 1507, 1530–1531, going on to explain why:
“California Rules of Court, rule 8.204(a)(2)(C) provides that an appellant’s
opening brief shall ‘[p]rovide a summary of the significant facts . . . .’ And the leading
California appellate practice guide instructs about this: ‘Before addressing the legal
issues, your brief should accurately and fairly state the critical facts (including the
evidence), free of bias, and likewise as to the applicable law. [¶] Misstatements,