This just in: Counsel for the class of tenants who recently won a seven figure verdict against Alameda County mega-landlord Richard Thomas have learned that the Washington Legal Foundation, a right wing legal organization that claims to champion “free market principles … business civil liberties, and legal ethics” has signed on to help Thomas avoid legal accountability for more than nine years of fraudulent and unfair business practices.

In Oct. 2008, an Alameda County jury and judge found that Thomas had defrauded more than 200 tenants out of their security deposits by misrepresenting his intentions to return the deposits at the end of the tenancies. The jury found that Thomas had committed premeditated fraud in his dealings with his tenants. The judge agreed with the jury’s verdict and imposed an injunction against Thomas.

Thomas then appealed through the California courts and lost at each level. In September, Thomas filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court claiming that his tenants hadn’t relied on his misrepresentations even though they appeared in his written leases, the tenants signed the leases and delivered security deposits into his control. Thomas also claims that though he is worth between $20 and 35 million dollars, it is unconstitutional for him to have to pay $1 million in punitive damages. The Washington Legal Foundation apparently agrees. Landlords who swindle tenants should receive only a slap on the wrist according to these self-styled legal ethicists. They want landlords to be able to calculate their downside risks if they get caught ripping off their tenants. That’s their idea of a “free market principal.”