Thompson

BACKGROUND

On February 2, 2011, appellant Haroun Bacchus, respondent Misty Thompson, and respondent’s relatives, including her husband, Alexander Yerkes, appeared before Judge Joseph Biderman at a hearing to determine whether Thompson’s request for a restraining order against Bacchus should be granted. We take the facts from representations made by the parties at that hearing and from court filings. Bacchus leased and resided in a two-bedroom apartment in the City of Santa Monica beginning in 1993. In 2004, Bacchus accepted Thompson as an equal co-tenant, and she became a signatory on the lease. Tension between Bacchus and Thompson arose early in their co-tenancy and escalated after 2009, when Yerkes moved into the apartment. On January 13, 2011, Thompson obtained a temporary restraining order against Bacchus and petitioned the trial court for an injunction to prevent harassment. At the February 2, 2011 hearing, Thompson represented that Bacchus was verbally abusive, physically menaced and harassed her, habitually blocked doorways and elbowed her in the kitchen, moved her property without permission, and once pounded on her bedroom door at 3:00 a.m. Bacchus admitted he became…