Facts

Michael Barnes and Lisa Underwood own a vacation home in Laguna Beach, which housed over $1 million worth of jewelry owned by the couple.

When the jewelry went missing, Barnes and Underwood filed suit against JTC Estates, which specializes in home maintenance and property care, Raul Aguilera, and his wife, Ana Martinez.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended that defendant JTC Estates hired Aguilera knowing that he had had felony convictions for drug possession (2000), evading police (2001), and possession of a gun (2007). In 2007 JTC Estates hired Aguilera as a maintenance worker. He continued working for JTC Estates in 2016 when the Plaintiffs hired JTC Estates for property management services to their Laguna Beach, California vacation home. Plaintiffs contend that JTC Estates never told them Aguilera had multiple felony convictions or was a drug user. JTC Estates never drug tested Aguilera. On or before August 15, 2017, plaintiffs' contend that Aguilera staged a break-in at the vacation home to mask the fact that he had stolen jewelry from a pouch located on a nightstand in the bedroom of the home. The Plaintiffs contended that Aguilera had stolen 34 pieces of jewelry worth over $1 million dollars. During the subsequent police investigation, two of the jewelry items were found to have been pawned by Aguilera. He had broken apart a necklace and pawned some of the stones. Aguilera was arrested at his apartment. He was found in possession five stones he had in his pocket and $1,500 in cash he had received from the pawn shop for the other item of jewelry. Ms. Martinez was also present in the apartment at the time of the arrest. She was never a suspect. Aguilera plead guilty to grand theft for stealing two pieces of the Plaintiffs' jewelry. Aguilera served two years in prison. The remaining items have never recovered.
Plaintiffs contend that after defendant Aguilera stole some of their jewelry from their vacation home, defendant Martinez must have been an accomplice to the theft by either being actively involved in the conversion of the property or by knowing that her husband had stolen over $1 million worth of jewelry from the plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs claimed that defendant Martinez was liable for conversion of the jewelry because she was married to a convicted felon; a piece of jewelry was found in the front pocket of his pants in their bedroom; and there was $1,500 in cash found in
their bedroom. Plaintiff Barnes testified that based upon these facts alone he decided that she must have been involved in the theft and she and Aguilera either still have possession of the rest of the jewelry or know who has possession of it.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendant JTC Estates argued that Aguilera was hired in 2007 knowing he had been conviction of a felony. The company nevertheless wanted to give him a second chance. Aguilera turned out to be a model employee. During the 9 years before he began working at the Barnes' Laguna Beach home, he never received a complaint from JTC Estates' customers. He was promoted over the years. By 2016 he had gained an excellent reputation. When the Barnes hired JTC Estates there was no reason to suspect that Aguilera would steal property from Barnes' vacation home. JTC Estates argued that a typical criminal background check traces the last 7 years. By 2016 Aguilera would have had a clear criminal record since he had not been arrested or been involved in any criminal activity for the last 7 years. Additionally, Aguilera was introduced to Barnes at the time he started working at the vacation home. JTC Estates had no idea Aguilera was using drugs or had any plans to steal the Barnes' jewelry.
Defendant Aguilera admitted to having stolen two pieces of jewelry at the Barnes' vacation home. But he denies staging a break-in to the home. He had actually taken the jewelry in late July 2017 and pawned the items to buy drugs. He did not tell anyone he was using drugs or that he had stolen the items. He denied taking the rest of the jewelry Barnes claims had been stolen. He never told anyone at JTC Estates or his wife about these thefts. He apologized to JTC Estates and the plaintiffs. He acknowledged it was a stupid thing to do and he deserved to go to prison. Though he has a wife and three small children, with multiple felonies on his record, including theft, he cannot find a steady job.
Defendant Martinez argued that she married defendant Aguilar when she was very
young; they have three children; she was employed with the same job for over 20 years; she had never been arrested; she was fiscally responsible and paid her bills on time; and that, at the time of the theft, she was 6 months pregnant and she
had absolutely no idea that he had stolen this property. Though she thought defendant Aguilera's conduct was horrible, that he deserved the jail sentence handed down by the criminal judge, and thought about filing for divorce while he was serving time in jail for this crime, defendant Martinez could not bear permanently tearing her children's father away from them. Defendant Martinez asserted that, though her husband was arrested for stealing some pieces of the plaintiffs' jewelry, she was never a suspect, and was never questioned or implicated by law enforcement. Defendant Martinez contended that there was no evidence of her involvement in the theft except that she was married to defendant Aguilar.
There was no evidence that defendant Martinez was aware her husband had stolen plaintiff Barnes' property. Defendant Aguilera testified that he never told his wife that he had stolen two pieces of jewelry from plaintiff Barnes. The police arrested defendant Aguilera for grand theft but never suspected defendant Martinez was
involved and in fact had solicited her help in the investigation against her husband. She fully cooperated with the police.

Injuries

Plaintiffs suffered emotional distress damages associated with the loss of over $1 million worth of jewelry.

Result

The jury rendered verdicts against defendant Aguilera, against defendant JTC Estates, and in favor of defendant Martinez. Judgment was entered against defendant Aguilera totaling $1,628,365.50 and against defendant JTC Estates totaling $1,623,365.5.

Other Information

Though plaintiffs claim that over $1 million worth of jewelry was stolen, only two pieces of the 34 missing jewelry pieces were found. The other items of jewelry were never discovered. Defendant Raul Aguilera is in pro per.

Deliberation

5.5 hours

Poll

12-0

Length

Nine days