Nathan

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Erick Nathan sued defendant Jorge Mira alleging breach of an oral agreement to acquire two commercial properties on behalf of their joint venture. Following a bench trial, the court granted judgment in favor of defendant. On appeal, plaintiff contends the court abused its discretion when it denied his request to call an available rebuttal witness and his subsequent request to continue the trial based on the unavailability of two witnesses. We affirm.

II. BACKGROUND

A. The Action

Plaintiff commenced this action against defendant in October 2016 and filed the operative second amended complaint on August 17, 2017, asserting six causes of action for: (1) breach of oral contract; (2) fraud; (3) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (4) tortious breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (5) conversion; and (6) constructive trust. The action proceeded to a bench trial in December 2019. Plaintiff’s initial trial estimate for his case was two to three days and defendant estimated his case would take one day. Trial began on December 10, 2019, with the presentation of plaintiff’s case1 and continued on…