Kwok

I.

INTRODUCTION

The current appeal arises out of an ongoing dispute among the parties over the estate of Stanley Kwong (Stan).1 In the original action, Kwong I, Stan’s mother Lau Kwong (Lau) and his brother Larry Kwong (Larry) sought an accounting of Stan’s estate relying on Stan’s financial records in the possession of Stan’s surviving spouse Jennifer Shuk-Han Kwok and Stan’s company California Financial Mortgage Corporation (California Financial) (referred to collectively and in the singular form as Kwok). After the trial court issued a final judgment in Kwong I, Kwok filed the current complaint, Kwong II, alleging four causes of action against Stan’s two surviving siblings based on their alleged theft of Stan’s financial records. The trial court granted respondents’ demurrers to the current complaint without leave to amend, finding Kwok’s claims constituted spoliation of evidence, and there was no independent legal cause of action 1 To avoid confusion, we refer to members of the Kwong family by their first names. No disrespect is intended.

1 available for that conduct. Kwok contends her claims of trespass and conversion are based upon the theft of documents and are unrelated…