Oved & Associates Construction v. LA County Met. Transp. Auth.
Filed 6/22/06 Oved & Associates Construction v. LA County Met. Transp. Auth. CA2/1
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION ONE
| OVED & ASSOCIATES CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, INC., et al., Plaintiffs, Cross-defendants and Appellants, v. LOS ANGELES COUNTY METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY et al., Defendants, Cross-complainants and Respondents. | B177595 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC228246) |
APPEAL from judgments of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Wendell Mortimer, Jr., Judge. Affirmed.
Greenberg Traurig, John M. Gatti and John J. Lucas for Plaintiffs, Cross-defendants and Appellants.
Ford, Walker Haggerty & Behar and Joseph A. Heath for Defendant, Cross-complainant and Respondent Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Law Offices of Kent G. Mariconda and Kent G. Mariconda for Defendant, Cross-complainant and Respondent Star Iron Works, Inc.
Gibbs, Giden, Locher & Turner, Ronald S. Sofen and Jeriel C. Smith for Defendant, Cross-complainant and Respondent Kajima/Ray Wilson, National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, American Home Assurance Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.
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Pleadings were stricken and defaults were entered after years of discovery stonewalling culminating in the intentional destruction of evidence by a corporation and its principals. The corporation and its principals appeal. We affirm.
FACTS
A.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority retained several general contractors (including Kajima/Ray Wilson and Tutor-Saliba Perini) for the construction of various MetroRail Red Line stations, and two steel contractors (Star Iron Works, Inc. and Oved & Associates Construction Services, Inc.) joined forces to bid for (and won) subcontracts for several of the stations. From 1994 to 2000, Oved managed and administered various aspects of Star Iron's business, including its billing, banking, and collections from the general contractors.[1]
B.
Star Iron's Action
In March 2000, Star Iron sued Oved for breach of contract, fraud, and misappropriation of funds, alleging that Oved had received millions of dollars on Star Iron's behalf, had commingled it with its own money, then misrepresented to Star Iron that the funds had never been received from the general contractors, and that (instead of paying Star Iron) Oved had â€
