Alamo Group IX v. Tabaie CA1/5

I. BACKGROUND

In June 2009, Alamo filed a complaint against Kassra Tavakoli and several Doe defendants for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud, money had and received, and an accounting. Alamo, whose managing member is Donald Gaube, alleged that it entered into a written agreement with Tavakoli and the Doe defendants in 2007 to form Reno Investors, LLC (Reno Investors), which would operate a furniture store leased from another entity (Lessor) managed by Gaube. Pursuant to an alleged oral 1 All statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure unless otherwise indicated.

1 agreement, Alamo loaned Tavakoli2 $500,000 to purchase store inventory in the form of a capital contribution to Reno Investors, with the understanding that Alamo would transfer ownership units in Reno Investors to Tavakoli as Tavakoli repaid the loan, until Tavakoli owned the company in full. Alamo alleged that Tavakoli breached this oral agreement, failed to account for the $500,000 loaned by Alamo, failed to repay the loan, failed to pay rent to Lessor, and abandoned the company. Alamo alleged that it was damaged as a result of defendants’ actions and that all…