Skytte

FACTS

In 2017, Birthe B. Skytte, trustee of the Skytte Family Trust and Christian’s 1 mother, sued appellants in connection with a property on State Avenue in Costa Mesa. Appellants countersued, adding other family members as cross-defendants. In 2018, the parties settled and dismissed their competing claims. Under the settlement agreement, Birthe was to lend appellants $230,000, secured by a deed of trust on the State Avenue property. If Birthe died before the loan was paid off, the balance was to be satisfied with amounts appellants would be entitled to receive as beneficiaries of the trust. The parties dismissed their respective claims. In 2021, appellants moved to vacate the dismissal of the action under Code of Civil Procedure section 473 and the superior court’s equitable powers, claiming the dismissal and settlement were the result of their mistake and extrinsic fraud by Birthe, among other grounds. They claimed that Birthe “had committed fraud and/or concealed pertinent and relevant facts and circumstances regarding the management, disposition, hypothecation and liquidation of [trust] assets,” and in particular, that she may have “improperly invaded” two trust properties…