Hale v. Morgan, 584 P.2d 512 (1978)

Citation: Hale v. Morgan, 584 P.2d 512 (1978)
Parent Document: Hale v. Morgan, 584 P.2d 512 (1978)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 1978-09-28
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1160324/hale-v-morgan/ ↗

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No discretion is permitted the trier of fact in fixing the penalty. The acts prohibited by the section potentially encompass a broad range of culpable activity and conduct on the part of the landlord, and a widely divergent injury resulting in damage to the tenant. The fixed penalties are imposed upon potential defendants who may vary greatly in sophistication and financial strength. (Cf., United States v. J. B. Williams Company, Inc. (S.D.N.Y. 1973) 354 F.Supp. 521, 551.) These features of section 789.3 emphasize its substantial difference when compared, for example, with recently adopted federal statutes which require the consideration of various ameliorating factors in the assessment of proper civil penalties. (E.g., Federal Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C.A. (Supp. II, 1972) § 2056 [size of business, gravity of violation]; Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C.A. (Supp. V, 1975) § 45 (m)(1)(C) [degree of culpability, prior misconduct, ability to pay, effect on business “and such other matters as justice may require”].) No such moderating influences may be considered under section 789.3. A large corporate landlord which callously and by design pursues a policy of “shock” eviction suffers no greater penalty than the elderly widow of modest means who, dependent on the income from a single unit, ignorant of the penalty provisions of the law, exhausted by the machinations of a wily and recalcitrant tenant, and no longer willing or able to bear the expense of utilities for an occupant *400who refuses to pay rent, finally terminates the tenant’s utility services in order to speed his departure. We note that no distinction is made between the interruption of service of the vital essentials, water, heat, light, electricity and gas, and other services perhaps somewhat lower on the scale of necessities, namely, telephone, elevator, and refrigerator. In our view, a statute which applies such a mandatory, fixed, substantial and cumulative punitive sanction against persons of such disparate culpability is manifestly suspect.

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