In October 2012, plaintiff Jeanne Haworth learned that her cousin, plaintiff Kathleen McGinty, had been removed from her home in Santa Monica, that a “for sale” sign was on the remodeled house and that the house was no longer in the name of the McGinty Family Trust. The previous owner of the house, Dolores McGinty, passed away in 2009, leaving her son, Timothy McGinty, as trustee of the family trust, which also included a special needs trust for her daughter, Kathleen McGinty, a functioning, yet autistic, dependent adult. Timothy McGinty struggled with substance abuse and depression, and quit his job as a special needs teacher to seek disability for depression with psychosis, while also taking care of his dependent sister. In August 2010, the city of Santa Monica “red tagged” the garage of the home shared by Timothy and Kathleen McGinty, which prompted Timothy McGinty to hire Triangle Construction to make plans and fix the garage for roughly $18,000. Timothy McGinty subsequently took out a $75,000 loan to refurbish the garage and house, which had previously been free and clear. Noam Bouzaglou, an employee of Triangle Construction, allegedly took the contract to contractor Ness Adam Construction, and a $200 down payment was paid by Timothy McGinty to rectify the problem with his home. Ness Adam, along with Bouzaglou, then obtained a $327,000 contract to refurbish/rebuild the entire property, including a guest home, and to sell it for a maximum profit for the homeowner trust. Timothy McGinty claimed Ness Adam and Bouzaglou obtained for him a $400,000 construction loan, which he could not afford, and then funneled the $294,000 net proceeds through the client trust account of attorney Andrew Stern. Timothy McGinty claimed Ness Adam and Bouzaglou then added four extra work orders/change orders, taking the total contract price for a single story cosmetic remodel to $857,000 and, with the help of Stern, got him to deed the property over to Ness Adam five days after he was discharged from a two-week psychiatric hold/5150. (Neither Bouzaglou nor Stern allegedly had any information about Timothy McGinty being in a hospital on psychiatric hold.) On Oct. 16, 2012, Timothy McGinty died unexpectedly of natural causes. Two days later, Bouzaglou entered into a sales contract to sell the property to independent purchasers for $1.53 million. At that time, the cousin of Timothy McGinty, Jeanne Haworth, allegedly found out that her cousin, Kathleen McGinty, had been removed from the home in Santa Monica and moved to Encino, that a “for sale” sign was on the remodeled house, and that the house was in the name of Bouzaglou, instead of the McGinty Family Trust. Jeanne Haworth, acting as the successor trustee to the McGinty Family Special Needs Trust, and Kathleen McGinty, individually, sued Bouzaglou, Stern, and Ness Adam Inc., which was doing business as Ness Adam Construction. Haworth and Kathleen McGinty brought causes of action for a cancellation of a deed, for a constructive trust, for a rescission of contract, and to obtain a Lis Pendens. Plaintiffs’ counsel argued that the defendants swindled Timothy McGinty out of the family home by conspiring and maliciously manipulating him into signing over the deed to pay for the garage repairs. Counsel contended that when Timothy McGinty returned home following his two-week psychiatric hold, he was coerced into a quitclaim of the property over to Bouzaglou and that Stern drew up a contract that contained fraudulent promises that Bouzaglou would pay Timothy McGinty a portion of any profits from the property sale. Plaintiffs’ counsel also argued that the defendants completed the cosmetic remodel of the home for less than the $109,000 max amount, but that the defendants chose not to produce any evidence of their cost or expenditures. On Nov. 6, 2012, when the home was in escrow for sale, the plaintiffs’ attorney of record was able to record a Lis Pendens, which put the sale of the house on hold. Defense counsel contended that the $400,000 loan taken out by Timothy McGinty was secured and signed by him, not Bouzaglou, and that Timothy McGinty paid off the existing $75,000 loan, as well as paid $270,000 to Ness Adams. Counsel also contended that although $294,000 was placed in Stern’s trust account, the $270,000 that went to Ness Adams was used to pay Timothy McGinty’s expenses, including payments on the $400,000 loan, rental payments for Timothy and Kathleen McGinty, and cash advances to Timothy McGinty. Thus, defense counsel argued that part of the deal in Timothy McGinty turning over the property to Bouzaglou was that Bouzaglou would make payments to support the $400,000 loan, would pay for Timothy McGinty’s rent, and would provide Timothy McGinty with cash as needed. Counsel further argued that the agreement provided that Timothy McGinty was to receive a minimum of $500,000 from the sale of the property, less any monies advanced by Bouzaglou pursuant to the agreement. In addition, defense counsel argued that the contract and deed were good because there was no evidence of fraud and that since Timothy McGinty is deceased, everything he allegedly told his family, friends and neighbors was inadmissible hearsay. Defense counsel filed a motion to dissolve the Lis Pendens, which was denied, as well as demurrers and motions for summary judgment on liability, which were also denied., Kathleen McGinty claimed she lost sleep, and had headaches, stomach distress, anger and sadness stemming from the ordeal. She also claimed a loss of use of the Santa Monica property, with a rental value totaling $38,000. Thus, Haworth and Kathleen McGinty sought recovery for the loss of use and value of the Santa Monica property. They also sought recovery of general damages. In addition, Haworth and Kathleen McGinty sought recovery of punitive damages against Bouzaglou, Stern, and Ness Adam, alleging the defendants’ actions were fraudulent, reckless, malicious and oppressive. Defense counsel contended that Bouzaglou, Stern, and Ness Adam would pay some unspecified, derived amount from the sale proceeds based on the contract. (However, Bouzaglou has since filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceeding.)