A family with an autistic son have been driven out of their home after neighbors brought a lawsuit against them, accusing their boy of causing house prices to plummet and being a 'public nuisance'.
Vidyut Gopal and Parul Agrawal's 11-year-old son has behavioral issues that have seen him get into scuffles with other children and hurt neighbors' pets.
The parents are now in a legal battle with fellow residents in Sunnyvale, California, whose lawsuit claims the boy is having a 'chilling effect on the otherwise hot local real estate market'.
A family with an autistic son have been driven out of their home in this street (pictured) in Sunnyvale, California, after neighbors accused their boy of causing house prices to fall
Mr Gopal and Mrs Agrawal have lived in quiet Arlington Court for seven years but have now left their property and have no desire to return.
'This has been pretty devastating for us, but we are doing our best to cope with it,' Mr Gopal, an engineer at a Silicon Valley company, told the San Jose Mercury News.
Their neighbors complained that their autistic boy had pulled children's hair, slapped a baby, purposely cycled into people, and had sat on a cat.
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In a ruling that could change the way families with autistic children are treated across the country, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge issued an injunction against the mother and father last October, saying that they must ensure their child does not attack anyone or damage property.
His parents hired carers - and the boy is taking medication and undergoing therapy - but residents in the street refused to back down and sued the family.
Homeowners claimed that 'people feel constrained in the marketability of their homes' and that the 'nuisance' had not been stopped.
Residents in Sunnyvale claimed boy was having a 'chilling effect on the otherwise 'hot' real estate market
The neighbors who sued Mr Gopal and his wife, a research scientist for NASA, said they did not want to be 'enemies' with the family but felt they had no option but to take legal action.
Nurse Sue Alford, 61, lives on the street and said: 'It was painful. We all met with them and talked to them about their son, but they didn't see our point of view. We wanted the street to be a safe place for other children.'
However Nieves Diaz, 63, said the situation was 'awful' as the ruling, which came before the family left their home, meant the boy could not play with other children on the street.
She added that the autistic child was often seen watching them play from the window but was not allowed to go and join in.
There are fears that the ruling could be picked up on by communities trying to force disabled children off their streets.
Jill Escher, president of the board of the Autism Society of the San Francisco Bay Area, said: 'Imagine if lawsuits like this were allowed to proliferate on such allegations. This could happen to all autism families at the drop of a hat. They would not know where to go.'
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