A family in San Jose, California, became entangled in a three-year lawsuit after a neighbor allegedly complained about their 11-year-old son with autism playing in their own backyard and being a “public nuisance.” Now, the woman has been ordered to pay $8 million to the boy and his family following a jury trial.
The feud between the neighbors on Boynton Avenue began in December 2023, when a woman filed a lawsuit seeking a “public nuisance abatement” and a restraining order against Serena Arvayo, her family, and their landlord, claiming her son Ezekiel’s behavior was “offensive” and “indecent,” according to KRON 4. The neighbor’s lawsuit alleged that Ezekiel would “wail and scream for hours” while left unsupervised in their family’s backyard daily.
The neighbor claimed that the constant disturbances by Ezekiel led to her experiencing emotional distress whenever she was at home working. As a result, the neighbor felt a “loss of enjoyment” of her home, and her career and business were allegedly impacted negatively.
Neighbor allegedly reports kid with autism for ‘strange noises’
Before the lawsuit was filed, the neighbor allegedly met Arvayo for the first time during a confrontation in which she voiced her grievances. According to court documents, she allegedly requested that Ezekiel be prohibited from playing in the family’s backyard because of his noise. She supposedly also contacted the Arvayo family’s landlord to report Ezekiel for making “strange noises.”…