Arenas v. Superior Court CA2/1

Filed 10/31/25 Arenas v. Superior Court CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

JOHN ARENAS, B345320

Petitioner, (Los Angeles County v. Super. Ct. No. 24STCV25525)

THE SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY,

Respondent;

350 SOUTH GRAND AVENUE (LA), LLC,

Real Party in Interest.

ORIGINAL PROCEEDINGS in mandate. Richard L. Fruin, Judge. Petition granted. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and Ryan E. Cosgrove for Petitioner John Arenas. No appearance for Respondent Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Goodkin Law Group, Daniel L. Goodkin and Michael A. Shakouri for Real Party in Interest 350 South Grand Avenue (LA), LLC.

John Arenas (Arenas), a New York resident and defendant in the underlying breach of contract action brought by 350 South Grand Avenue (LA), LLC (South Grand) against defendant SLH-Los Angeles 2, LLC (SLH), challenges by way of petition the superior court’s assertion of jurisdiction over him and denial of his motion to quash service of summons. The court found Arenas had sufficient contacts with California to justify personal jurisdiction. We disagree and issue the writ.

BACKGROUND In October 2024, South Grand sued SLH and Arenas for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud, alleging South Grand and SLH entered into a lease agreement pursuant to which SLH agreed to pay monthly rent in the amount of $22,592.60 in return for South Grand providing a 22,658 square foot premises in Los Angeles. South Grand alleged that SLH breached the agreement by failing to pay rent and other fees since April 2023. South Grand also alleged Arenas used SLH as his alter ego, caused it to breach the lease, then depleted its funds to avoid anticipated contract damages. The lease agreement shows that Arenas signed it on behalf of SLH as an “authorized signatory.” (Capitalization omitted.) Arenas specially appeared to quash service of summons on the ground of lack of jurisdiction. Arenas declared and later testified in jurisdictional discovery that he is a resident of New York; he is the chairman and CEO of Serendipity Labs, Inc. (Serendipity), which owned SLM LA2, LLC (SLM), which was one of SLH’s two managing members; he signed the lease agreement on behalf of SLH as SLM’s representative; and he sat on Serendipity’s investment