Quartz Hill, LLC v. Linton CA2/8

FACTS

I. The Litigation

Quartz Hill, LLC filed the current case in 2010 against a number of defendants involved in business dealings which resulted in a loss to the company of roughly $350,000. Quartz Hills‟s complaint alleged: In 2009, Quartz Hill agreed to loan money to defendant Mario Nordet in connection with a business venture to “flip” real properties. In October 2009, Nordet and a defendant escrow officer at Green Forest Escrow Corporation, Patricia Bohe, represented to Quartz Hill that a sum of $305,000 was needed quickly to close a sale for real property located in Toluca Lake. Quartz Hill was told that the buyer was defendant Gasprom, Inc., a corporation formed by defendant and appellant Linton, and that Gasprom would provide Quartz Hill with a deed of trust to secure repayment of the money that Quartz Hill fronted for the purchase. Quartz Hill loaned the $305,000 to Nordet, and Nordet provided Quartz Hill with a promissory note. In December 2009, Quartz Hill contacted Green Forest Escrow to determine whether escrow had closed. At that point, Bohe at Green Forest Escrow stated that “all of the net proceeds from the transaction had been remitted to . . . Linton.”…