Vision en Analisis y Estrategia v. Erwin Legal CA4/3

FACTS

As detailed in our prior opinion (Visión en Análisis etc. et al. v. Erwin Legal, P.C. et al. (Aug. 6, 2021, G058265, G058367, G058428) [nonpub. opn.]), the plaintiffs in this case are two foreign investment firms—Visión en Análisis y Estrategia, S.A. de C.V. and Capitaliza-T Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada de Capital Variable (collectively, Plaintiffs). In 2011, Plaintiffs purchased an interest in a family trust that owned a $4 million universal life insurance policy insuring the life of an octogenarian. About a year later, Plaintiffs hired defendant Christopher Erwin—an attorney, life settlement broker, and a member of defendant Erwin Legal, PC—to help them sell that interest. To broker the sale, Erwin needed to obtain information about the policy premiums and the insured’s medical status so he could determine the policy’s value. Neither Erwin nor Plaintiffs could obtain that information directly due to privacy rules, so Erwin asked his client and business contact, defendant David Mickelson Insurance

1 All further undesignated statutory definitions are to this code.

2 Services (DMIS), which had been involved in underwriting and brokering a previous sale of the…