Facts

Plaintiff Charles Mac Donald engaged Steve Unanian of Steve S. Unanian & Associates to prepare his personal tax returns, which included the reporting of the income and expenses from his sole proprietor business, Mac Donald General Contracting.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff claimed that he entered into an oral agreement with Unanian to engage Unanian to prepare his 2011 personal tax returns, and that Unanian negligently prepared them by over-reporting income of $992,605. Plaintiff contended that his actual income related to his business was over $200,000, less than originally reported causing him to retain another accountant to prepare amended tax returns and seek refunds of some of the taxes he paid.

Plaintiff alleged that wrongful conduct of Unanian caused plaintiff damage in the form of errors in his 2011 tax returns. Plaintiff alleged that he sustained damage resulting from plaintiff's retention of another professional to file amended tax returns, and that he should be awarded punitive damages.

Plaintiff alleged causes of action for malpractice, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Unanian claimed that he had no duty to verify or audit the figures given to him by plaintiff for purposes of preparing plaintiff's tax returns, and that Unanian was entitled to rely upon the information supplied to him by plaintiff. Unanian was not engaged to act as plaintiff's bookkeeper. To the extent that the figures plaintiff provided were incorrect, it was solely and directly the result of plaintiff's own misrepresentations and fault, and had no causal connection to Unanian's professional services. Moreover, plaintiff had failed to establish that the income figures used by his new accountant in the amended returns were correct.

Settlement Discussions

Defendant made a CCP 998 offer of $2,300.

Damages

Plaintiff claimed out-of-pocket damages of $41,538.

Result

Defense Verdict.

Other Information

Following judgment, defendant filed a Memorandum of Costs. On April 8, 2015, the court awarded defendant's fees and costs totaling $5,432. FILING DATE: Dec. 23, 2014.