Facts

Plaintiff Rogelio Arellano filed suit against defendant Ahmad Azizi. Arellano was employed as Senior Property Manager over the rental division of defendant First Avenue Real Estate Group Inc., dba Diversified Real Property Management and Business Services, Inc. since 2004.

Diversified Property Management sued Arellano, which was consolidated with the underlying case.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: He got along well with management, maintained good client relations, and had a good performance record prior to the sale of the company to Azizi in December 2014. Beginning in June 2015, Arellano was accused of performance issues and Azizi questioned Arellano's loyalty. Arellano had complained about having to work with a management employee, whom Arellano alleged had been padding invoices and inflating work hours at the expense of clients. Arellano also complained about Azizi's reneging on a partnership agreement with a contractor referred by Arellano, and failing to pay the contractor for services rendered. In July 2015, Azizi terminated Arellano, but promptly rehired him on the condition that Arellano would not have to work with the management employee alleged to have been padding invoices.

In October 2015, in response to a client's request, Arellano asked Azizi to provide certain documents to confirm work done on the client's property. Arellano believed that Azizi had altered a check, and that Azizi had forged a signature on a lien release. In December 2015, after speaking to the person whose signature was allegedly on the lien release, Arellano became convinced that Azizi had forged the signature and altered the check. On the advice of counsel, Arellano, a real estate agent licensee, went to the Broker of Record and asked for advice regarding his personal exposure to Azizi's fraud. The Broker of Record communicated Arellano's allegations to Azizi. The Broker of Record then told Arellano that upon learning of his allegations Azizi fired Arellano. Arellano then sent an email to Azizi to confirm this, whereupon Azizi claimed that he had not terminated Arellano but that he let the Broker of Record terminate Arellano from his broker's license, thereby making it impossible for Arellano to do his job. Arellano was not able to find a full time salaried position despite a diligent job search for nearly two years.

Plaintiff alleged that Arellano had taken kickbacks, and failure to pay a commission. Plaintiff asserted causes of action for wrongful termination and defamation.

As to Diversified Property Management's suit, Arellano argued that no witness testified that they terminated Diversified Property Management because of anything said by Arellano. Arellano claimed that Diversified Property Management had performed a lot of unnecessary and defective repairs on client properties. One client testified that Azizi told her that he had international connections and would do what it took to put her out of business if she didn't remove a negative Yelp ad about his business.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied Arellano's allegations.

In its suit, Diversified Property Management claimed that Arellano intentionally interfered with its contractual relations and interfered with its prospective economic advantage. Azizi, Diversified Property Management's managerial agent, claimed that Arellano had communicated to various accounts of Diversified Property Management that Azizi had engaged in fraudulent activities and that a number of accounts were lost due to these communications.

At trial, Diversified Property Management's forensic expert claimed that all of it's loss of business from 2015 through 2017 was due to Arellano.

Result

The jury returned a $415,125 total verdict for Arellano and against Diversified Property Management and Azizi, which consisted of $91,000 in past economic loss, $35,000 in future economic loss, $75,000 in past general damages for emotional distress, $25,000 in future general damages for emotional distress, $1,048 in unpaid commissions, $8,077 in Labor Code section 203 penalties, and $180,000 in punitive damages. The jury found malice, fraud and oppression. Punitive damages were assessed against Diversified Property Management. A defense verdict was obtained on the defamation claim. The jury found in favor of defendant Arellano on plaintiff Diversified Property Management's complaint as to all causes of action.

Other Information

According to plaintiff, a defense verdict was obtained on the defamation claim due to the jury's only negative vote on the special verdict as to a question that should have applied only to public figure defamation and not this private figure case. Consolidated Case: Diversified Property Management Inc. v. Rogelio L. Arellano (30-2016-00848044).

Deliberation

10 hours