In Rem

Buchanan v. Soto, No. D065652 (D4d1 Nov. 6, 2015)

Wife, facing a collections action, transferred some marital property to Husband’s separate ownership. Plaintiff won the collection case and then sued Husband and Wife for fraudulent conveyance. She had some trouble serving Husband, who had allegedly been deported to Mexico before the case was filed. Wife unconvincingly claimed not to know Husband’s address there. After several attempts to serve Husband at the pre-deportation residence, the court permitted service by publication. Husband defaulted and Plaintiff ultimately won a judgement against both Wife and (defaulted) Husband, with the court finding that the property had been fraudulently transferred by Wife to avoid collections.

A $32.5 Million Discovery Mistake

Soto v. Borgwarner Morse Tec Inc., No. B252995 (D2d4, as modified August 20, 2015)

Although some law-and-economics attuned federal judges have doubted the rationale behind the rule,* in California, the defendant’s economic condition and ability to pay are matters a jury must assess in awarding punitive damages. Indeed, the California Supreme Court considers them so important that if the trial record doesn’t contain meaningful evidence of the defendant’s economic condition, punitive damages can’t be awarded. See Adams v. Murakami, 54 Cal. 3d 105, 112 (1991).