My question involves an eviction in the state of: California

My friends received a "Three Day Notice to Perform Covenants or Quit.

Conditions/Covenants stated the following:

#12 Rental Agreement- Tenant agreed to keep the premises and all items in good order and conditon.
Tenant is a "Hoarder" and has flammable items stored in house and garage and possible vermin infestation throughout the property.

On the same day after the notice was received, I called the landlord and spoke over the phone.

I told the landlord that the terms and conditions she cited may be inaccurate and that if they were, then wrongfully calling the tentant a hoarder and alleging flammable items and vermin infestation which was factually incorrect might be defamatory and an abuse of the eviction process and could expose her to liablity.

She quickly replied that "I have taken pictures and I can prove it!."

That same evening she called the city cops to the residence. Three police officers and a fireman demanded to be allowed in after she alleged to them the above and said that dangerous conditions existed which needed to be remedied immediately and she did not want to wait until the three days were up to inspect the property again.

The police and fireman were unanimous. No sign of infestation anywhere. No flammable item storage problem at all. Hoarding not present, and if it did exist it was no less than or equal than one on a scale of ten. The "hoarding expert" that was also scheduled to come was apparently cancelled when the officers and firemen realized that an expert would not be needed to make the assesment that stored items were not inappropriate for a residence of this nature.
The landlord walked thru the house with the officers and fireman and examined everything. At no time did she allege that the property had already been cleaned up since her last inspection visit earlier in the week or that the tenant had removed any items prior to her arrival. Indeed, the tenants had not removed items yet since they were waiting the arrival of a rental truck to begin hauling some trash away.

The landlord left without speaking to the tenants regarding the status of the three day eviction notice. She did not rescind the notice or modify it. No apology or recognition on her part for her accusations which were all judged as completely without merit by the officers and fireman that she forced into the residence.

My friends are not sophisticated on these matters and the man is elderly. The man was interrogated by police to see if he knew what day it was, etc. to see if he was lucid and competent, which was obvously the case.

I was a witness to all of this. The police officer said that if there was still an attempt to evict made on this 3 day notice that the tenants should call him immediately as there was no grounds for eviction based on the covenants and complaint cited.

The tenants have been there 11 years without incident or problem until this latest assault upon them by the landlord thru the eviction process. They have been quite terrorized and traumitized by this whole situation and if it were not for my help things would be much worse for them.

It seems that the Landlord received adequate warning from me that her facts might be incorrect. Her statement that she had pictures means that she had adequate opportunity to obtain expert review and advice to assess the validity of her accusations before attempting to use the authorities as her personal gestapo. Her failure to rescind the notice or advise the tenants of same seems to further compound her callousness and deliberate attempts to intimidate and coerce my tenant friends.

QUESTION? DO THE TENANTS HAVE ANY LEGAL RECOURSE FOR DAMAGES AND COMPENSATION AGAINST THIS LANDLORD FOR HER UNCONSCIONABLE ACTIONS AND HER COMPLETE FABRICATION OF THE FACTS USED TO PERSECUTE THEM WITH THE THREE DAY NOTICE?

Thanks to all of you forum members...

Bill