Valdivia

I. BACKGROUND

In January 2021, Valdivia filed a complaint against Ayala for partition of the Property, an accounting, and an award of attorney’s fees and costs. In her third amended complaint for partition of the Property, she alleged that she and Ayala had entered into “an oral cohabitation agreement as well as an

2 oral joint venture agreement” regarding the acquisition and ownership of the Property pursuant to which they each would own an undivided half-interest in the fee interest in the Property, notwithstanding that Escamilla initially held an undivided one-half interest as the ostensible co-owner in trust for Valdivia, which interest he later transferred to Valdivia. She sought a judgment partitioning the Property by sale, attorney fees and costs, a compensatory adjustment deducting certain COVID-related deferred mortgage obligations from Ayala’s share of the net proceeds from the sale of the Property, and other compensatory adjustments then unknown but subject to proof at the time of trial. In August 2021, Ayala filed a cross-complaint seeking to quiet title and for declaratory relief against Valdivia and Escamilla, as well as for breach of contract, fraud, and negligent…