Hernandez v. Tseheridis
This is the second appeal in long-running and wide-ranging court battles over the failed purchase of a piece of commercial real estate in Rialto. The buyer and seller have been litigating against each other since 2006 on various theories. Peripheral parties, such as the appellant here, Robert Hernandez, have also been sucked into the whirlpool. In this case, Hernandez is suing the seller, respondent and cross-appellant Steve (Stavros) Tseheridis, for canceling the escrow on the Rialto property; Hernandez intended to buy the liquor license and the trade fixtures associated with the property, which were being sold at the same time.
The case was tried in June 2011 and resulted in a defense verdict on two causes of action – breach of contract and fraud. One of the issues is whether the case should have been dismissed for exceeding the five-year rule. Tseheridis, who won at trial, has appealed on this issue. As for Hernandez, he has appealed from the refusal of the trial court to give collateral estoppel effect to one of the earlier incarnations of this Bleak House conflict and from a jury verdict he labels “inconsistent.â€
We affirm the trial court’s refusal to dismiss the case for being brought to trial too late. The record indicates that if the case went over the line, it did so because of court congestion, not because of any untoward delay by Hernandez. We also affirm the trial court’s decision not to apply collateral estoppel to the present case. The California Supreme Court has clearly stated that an arbitration decision cannot have nonmutual collateral estoppel effect.
But, regrettably, we must reverse the judgment on Hernandez’s cause of action for breach of contract. The verdict was not inconsistent; the verdict form was wrong, as a matter of law. The error appears to have originated with the trial court, not with counsel, and it clearly prejudiced Hernandez. The cause of action must be retried.
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