California woman told to pay $8m after allegedly telling neighbors to stop their autistic son playing in backyard, then asked ‘if there was a cure’

A family from Northern California has been awarded $8 million after a lengthy court battle with their neighbor. The neighbor filed a lawsuit against the family in 2023 over their 11-year-old son’s outbursts in the backyard. However, a cross-complaint filed against the woman claimed that the boy was autistic and that his vocal stimming was involuntary.

The dispute between neighbors began after the woman filed for a “public nuisance abatement” and a restraining order against the family and their landlord over their son Ezekiel’s behavior in December 2023. According to The New York Post, court filings revealed that she had claimed the son’s actions were “indecent” and “offensive.” She also alleged that Ezekiel would be left to “wail and scream for hours, often without adult supervision.”

The neighbor alleged that the noise made by Ezekiel had caused her emotional distress, had interfered with her working from home, and had harmed her career and business. She also claimed that she had experienced a “loss of enjoyment” of her property.

The family’s attorneys responded

The family challenged the accusations made by their neighbor. In a cross-complaint filed in March 2024, they described their son as a nonverbal child who had level three autism and had been diagnosed at the age of two. They also accused the neighbor of having complained about their son in the past and of having allegedly asked them not to allow him to play in the backyard.

Attorneys claimed that Ezekiel’s mother, Serena, was “shocked” by the request and she “began to explain that Ezequiel was a young child who suffered from a severe form of autism and was completely non-verbal. The noises … were Ezequiel’s attempt to communicate emotions and were uncontrollable.”

According to the complaint filed by the family’s attorneys, the neighbor “asked Serena, directly in front of Ezequiel, if there was a cure for his condition.” Court records also showed that the neighbor had sent the family’s landlord text messages where she complained about Ezekiel making “strange noises.”

The public nuisance case filed by the neighbor was dismissed in September, with a jury later considering the family’s cross-complaint. Ultimately, Ezekiel and his family were awarded $8 million for the “intentional infliction of emotional distress” caused by the neighbor.

The family also claimed that the young boy “was never left unsupervised” in the backyard and that he often expressed his joy through “vocal stimming.”

Speaking to KRON 4, the family’s attorney, Rachael Boden, said, “This verdict is a great feeling of justice for this family.” She also added, “While the sounds an Autistic child makes are audible, they do not constitute a nuisance in our civilized society.”