Facts

Susan Bradford and Lavona Stanley were employed at the Cambria Pines Lodge in Cambria. In June 2004, they won jury verdicts against their supervisor, Phil Estrada, and their employer, Moonstone Management Corporation, for sexual harassment and retaliation. The supervisor paid the judgments against him. The owner of Moonstone, Dirk Winter, decided to move its assets to other companies owned by him, leaving the judgments in favor of plaintiffs unsatisfied. The amounts of the unpaid judgments were $278,600 for Susan Bradford and $508,816 for Lavona Stanley.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiffs contended that Winter and the companies he owns engaged in the fraudulent concealment of assets to defraud creditors. The companies to which Winter transferred assets are successors to Moonstone and responsible for the judgments against it.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant contended that the transactions involving Moonstone and Winter's companies were made in good faith.

Damages

Each plaintiff suffered the loss of her judgments against Moonstone and suffered emotional distress due to the deprivation of those funds.

Result

The jury ruled in favor of plaintiffs' claims for fraudulent concealment and rendered an advisory verdict in their favor on the successor liability issues. It awarded plaintiff Susan Bradford $177,000 against defendant Dirk Winter (economic loss, $102,000; emotional distress, $75,000) and $301,970 for economic loss against defendant Pacific Cambria Inc., as a successor to Moonstone. It awarded plaintiff Lavona Stanley $177,000 against defendant Dirk Winter (economic loss, $102,000; emotional distress, $75,000) and $635,783 for economic loss against defendant Pacific Cambria Inc., as a successor to Moonstone.

Other Information

On post-trial motions, the court ruled that there was a merger between Moonstone and Pacific Cambria Inc. The court reduced the damages against Winter to $51,000 for each plaintiff for economic harm; and awarded each plaintiff the amounts of the underlying Moonstone judgments against Pacific Cambria Inc. - $403,512 for Susan Bradford and $736,947 for Lavona Stanley. The total judgments after the court's rulings amount to $1,242,459.

Deliberation

six hours

Length

seven days