“‘No one can take advantage of his own wrong.’ Known as the clean hands doctrine or the unclean hands doctrine, this equitable principle forms a possible defense in all actions in which the plaintiff has overstepped the bounds of acceptable conduct. . . Unclean hands deny the plaintiff the equitable remedies that would otherwise be available in the circumstances, leaving the plaintiff to the remedies available at law. Unclean hands may but do not necessarily deny the plaintiff enjoyment of existing legal rights such as a remedy in damages. When the plaintiff’s only meaningful remedy is equitable, however, successful assertion of an unclean hands defense can effectively defeat the plaintiff’s action. In many cases, the plaintiff seeks a mixture of legal and equitable relief so that a successful unclean hands defense typically deprives the plaintiff only a portion of the relief requested.”
[California Affirmative Defenses [certain citations omitted]]
