Bui

BACKGROUND

This appeal follows from a series of lawsuits filed in the wake of Tu Van Bui’s death. Following his death, his surviving spouse, June Situ (Situ), filed two actions against his surviving brother, Xuan Bui (Bui). In the first, Situ and her son alleged that they were entitled to the distributions from Tu Van Bui’s life insurance policy. In the second, Situ filed an unlawful detainer action to recover possession of a home in which Bui was then living. Bui, in turn, filed two suits of his own against Situ. In one, he filed an action to quiet title in the disputed property, and in another, he sought, among other things, to dissolve a partnership that he had allegedly operated with Tu Van Bui (the partnership action). Of these four suits, two are particularly important for our purposes— the unlawful detainer action, which was a limited civil case, and the partnership action, which was an unlimited civil case. Before trial in any of these cases, the parties signed and filed a stipulation in the unlawful detainer action. The stipulation, among other things, states: “[Situ] shall pay $10,000 to defendant, Xuan Bui. Xuan Bui upon receipt of payment shall file a Request for…