In roughly March 2010, plaintiff Juan Door, a real estate salesperson in his 50s, worked on a deal for a residential property in Orange County. Jeremy Hakimi, doing business as Empire Capital Group Inc., was the broker on the deal. Door claimed Hakimi was his employer and never paid him commission on the deal. However, Hakimi claimed Door was an independent contractor. Door sued Hakimi and Empire Capital. He alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted a breach of contract, defamation, and violations of the Labor Code for unpaid wages and waiting time penalties. Hakimi and Empire Capital filed a cross-complaint against Door and an alleged business associate of Door, Aurora Corzano. They alleged that the actions of Door and Corzano constituted embezzlement, breach of contract, unlawful business practices, indemnification, and civil conspiracy. The matter proceeded to a bench trial. Door claimed that Hakimi, whom he had a pre-existing business relationship with, failed to pay him his commission on the subject real estate transaction. He claimed that Hakimi breached an oral agreement between them, and that Hakimi owed him unpaid wages and waiting time penalties. Door further claimed that he was fired by Hakimi in March 2010 and that immediately after the termination, Hakimi made disparaging comments about him to prior clients. He alleged that Hakimi told their clients he was fired for being involved in a criminal action, as well as being a bad real estate salesperson, and one of Door’s prior clients testified to Hakimi making those comments to him. Door claimed that the comments were false and defamed his reputation. Hakimi claimed that Door was never his employee, but rather an independent contractor. He also claimed that he withheld the commission fee because there was a pending issue involving another real property in which Door was the salesperson. Hakimi further claimed that Door and Corzano embezzled money from the buyers, who were also the buyers in the transaction Door was seeking commission for. In addition, Hakimi denied making any of the comments alleged by Door in his defamation claim., Door sought recovery of $3,559.75 for his unpaid commission, which came out to $4,520.39 with interest. He also sought an unspecified amount in defamation damages for the harm to his professional reputation, as well as $3,559.75 in unpaid wages and $3,559.75 in waiting time penalties. Hakimi claimed that due to the alleged embezzlement issue, he was allowed to withhold the commission fee as part of the independent contractor agreement he had with Door. Hakimi sought recovery of $5,000 in general damages on his cross-complaint, as well as damages for the cost of suit, prejudgment interest, and indemnification.