Royal Co. Auctioneers, Inc. v. Coast Printing Equipment Co.

Defendants and appellants Coast Printing Equipment Company, Inc. and two of its officers Joseph Sofnas and Charles Sofnas (hereinafter collectively referred to as defendants) appeal from a judgment awarding plaintiff-respondent Royal Company Auctioneers, Inc. (hereinafter Royal) certain monies due in connection with a joint venture agreement in which the parties agreed to acquire and sell various items of printing equipment for a profit. Defendants request reversal of the judgment based upon numerous alleged substantive and procedural errors occurring during the course of the proceedings. We affirm.

Background

Royal commenced this action by filing a complaint against defendants Coast and the Sofnas for an accounting and for fraud. Royal alleged that there was an oral joint business venture agreement between Royal and defendants whereby the parties would jointly acquire and sell various items of equipment, splitting the profits equally. Defendants were alleged to have falsified accounting records, withheld monies rightfully belonging to Royal and otherwise failed to properly account for the profits realized from the sale of joint venture property. In a subsequent…