Cohen

BACKGROUND

Respondent’s lawsuit Allegations regarding the loan and appellant’s failure to repay Appellant is an experienced real estate agent about twice respondent’s age. When respondent was a teenager, appellant befriended him and acted as his mentor. After gaining respondent’s trust, appellant borrowed $85,000 from him. Appellant promised to repay the money on November 20, 2017, in a signed written agreement. Appellant failed to repay the loan, falsely assured respondent he would repay, and eventually stopped communicating with respondent and absconded. Appellant’s last communications with respondent assuring him of repayment were in October 2020.

2 Respondent’s complaint On May 6, 2021, respondent sued appellant, asserting causes of action for breach of contract, fraud, and violation of Penal Code section 496, as well as a common count for money had and received. In addition to alleging appellant breached the written agreement by failing to repay the loan, respondent averred appellant’s promise was fraudulent because appellant never intended to repay. Appellant allegedly used his position as an experienced businessman to take advantage of respondent, who was then a teenager…