McAdoo

BACKGROUND

In December 2015, husband and wife Dana McAdoo and Livia Baldaccini (plaintiffs) and their young daughter moved into a rental home in Oakland, California. The property was owned by Jesse Lomask (“landlord”) and managed by Wellington Property Company (“Wellington” or “property manager”). Before plaintiffs’ move-in, Wellington inspected the property and reported to Lomask that the carpeting in a “bonus room” under the garage had water damage because the door was “not meant to weather the elements.” Lomask did not replace the carpet but hired a licensed contractor to replace the door. Neither the garage nor the bonus room are attached to the house. The contractor who performed the work testified there was no mold. Plaintiffs claimed that shortly after they moved in they smelled a musky smell and saw mold in the kitchen, reported the situation to two Wellington employees and then cleaned the mold themselves. About five months after moving in, on May 7, 2017, water began leaking through the ceiling from an upstairs bathroom and Wellington sent in a third-party repair team. Plaintiffs claimed that one of the third-party service workers hired by Wellington found mold in the…