A federal judge ordered a Houston attorney and his wife, who are also landlords, to pay $45,600 in attorney fees and to cease contacting their former tenant against whom they made “mean, irrational attacks” and filed “imaginary, lurid claims” with state agencies.

The lawyer and his wife may also face civil and criminal liability for the fraudulent government claims they filed, wrote U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes.

The case involved Fan Chen of Nguyen & Chen and his wife, Ruikun Tao, who served as property manager of the couple's townhouse, which plaintiffs Brooke Adams and Weston Piper rented. The parties' dispute began when Adams, who had previously paid a pet deposit for one dog, brought home an emotional support dog to help her with diagnosed mental health problems.

“Chen and Tao did not reasonably accommodate Adams' mental health needs. To the contrary of anything suggesting accommodation, buttressed by some personal delusion, Tao launched a despicable campaign tormenting Adams and Piper as well as those who were associated with Adams,” said the June 17 findings of fact in Adams v. Chen in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Shortly after Adams told Tao about her emotional support dog, in December 2017, Chen filed an eviction lawsuit against the plaintiffs. They moved out on New Year's Eve.

In January 2018, a new tenant moved into the townhouse. Yet the defendants kept up their “malevolent character assassination” of Adams and Piper. They accused and threatened to sue people who photographed the plaintiffs in the townhouse for copyright violations, filed grievances with the Texas Medical Board against a nurse who wrote a health note for the emotional support dog, and told Adams' business associates and her new landlord that she cheated on her taxes, abused her children and was an alcoholic.

In April 2019, the defendants filed a “fraudulent report” with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services that accused the plaintiffs of sexual abuse of their children, prostitution, drug trafficking and tax evasion. Investigators closed the case after they found no evidence to support the allegations.

“None of these reprehensible intrusions and slanders would have been taken by a reasonable, similarly situated landlord—not even by an exceptionally grouchy neighbor,” the findings said.

Hughes wrote that the defendants breached the lease and violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to accommodate Adams' disabilities. The defendants retaliated against Adams because she was insisting that she and her dog were covered under the housing law.

The judge awarded the plaintiffs $45,600 in attorney fees, plus court costs and prejudgment interest. The defendants must return a $2,500 security deposit to the plaintiffs. The court ordered Chen and Tau to retract statements to three photographers, Adams' new landlord, the Texas Medical Board and the state Department of Family and Protective Services. Previously in the case, the judge granted a permanent injunction that orders the defendants to get the court's prior approval before contacting the plaintiffs or anyone associated with them.

Brian Gargano, attorney and counsel at Nguyen & Chen in Houston, who represented the defendants, wrote in an email that the court got it wrong, and that the defendants plan to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

“There are other things unsaid in the court's judgment and decision which shed light on the entire case as a whole and the court's motivation for its decision,” he said.

But plaintiffs attorney Michael Fleming, of Michael P. Fleming & Associates in Houston, said the ruling was completely appropriate.

He said, “The judge has taken some actions to protect this young woman from any further abuses.”

Read the findings of fact: