A new lawsuit could stage a battle between landlords and police in Silicon Valley, as a San Jose officer blames the owner of a property for injuries she sustained during a critical incident at the site. Her lawyer says more lawsuits are coming.
San Jose police officer Erin Allen suffered life-threatening — and career-ending — injuries after being ambushed and shot while responding to a domestic violence call on Auzerais Avenue in 2023. Allen, who according to her lawyer is in the process of retiring due to the spinal injuries she sustained, is suing the property owner of the apartment for renting to a gunman previously convicted of assault with a firearm and attacking a police officer. The San Jose Police Department declined to comment on Allen’s injuries and lawsuit, but confirmed she’s still an active employee.
Allen’s attorney, Mark Peacock, said he’s representing two more San Jose police officers preparing to file similar lawsuits, which did not appear in Superior Court records as of Aug. 22.
“There is some responsibility for property owners who know of violent pasts and then don’t do anything about it and then lease or rent property to that person,” Peacock told San José Spotlight. “For me this is more than a case. Officer Allen is a very vibrant, intelligent, engaged young woman who was literally just starting her life. And a lot of that’s been yanked out.”
Todd Rothbard, an attorney handling landlord-tenant disputes and eviction cases, said he’s never seen this type of lawsuit before.
“But it’s not unpredictable that something like this could come along,” Rothbard told San José Spotlight. “That’s because landlords are placed in this ridiculously impossible position.”
Rothbard said landlords are wary of factoring criminal backgrounds into tenant leasing because they risk being sued for discrimination.
“What I do see often are lawsuits against landlords for discriminatory practices denying people with criminal backgrounds housing. The arguments being the decision was based on race or that they failed to acknowledge the applicant’s rehabilitative status,” Rothbard said. “Those are things which your average property manager is as incapable of doing as manning a rocket ship.”
California law bars landlords from blanket-banning tenant applicants with criminal histories — though people with criminal histories are not considered a protected class under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. The law prohibits landlords from considering arrests that didn’t lead to convictions, information suggesting the applicant was detained for questioning by law enforcement, expunged convictions or referrals to rehabilitative justice programs.
While Rothbard hasn’t seen a similar lawsuit to Allen’s, Peacock said these cases aren’t uncommon. He points to a similar lawsuit he’s representing in Modesto, where a police officer was shot in the leg while serving a home search warrant in 2021. The officer’s attacker was a federal parolee who had barricaded himself in the home. The lawsuit similarly argued the property owners knew of the parolee’s criminal history. The case saw its most recent hearing in June, according to Stanislaus county court records.
“I’d love to say these instances are rare and unusual, but they’re not,” Peacock said.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.
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