Old Town Redlands v. Panoussis CA2/1

Filed 4/30/14 Old Town Redlands v. Panoussis CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

OLD TOWN REDLANDS, LLC, B245124

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC456353) v.

GEORGE PANOUSSIS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Mary H. Strobel, Judge. Affirmed. ______ George Panoussis, in pro. per.; the Mellor Law Firm and Mark A. Mellor for Defendant and Appellant. The Dressler Law Group and Thomas W. Dressler for Plaintiff and Respondent. ______

On March 2, 2011, Old Town Redlands, LLC filed a complaint to quiet title against George Panoussis and German Rodriguez. According to the complaint, Old Town Redlands became the fee simple owner of property at 5125 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles when it purchased the property in July 2002. Old Town Redlands acquired the property subject to a February 1, 1988 30-year lease in favor of Panoussis, and Rodriguez was Panoussis’s subtenant. In addition to occupancy under the 30-year lease, which would terminate on February 1, 2018, Panoussis claimed the existence of a second lease entered into on February 1, 1988 between him and Old Town Redlands’s predecessor, which “automatically goes into effect upon the February 1, 2018 expiration of [the first lease], . . . terminates on February 1, 2038” and provides Panoussis “an option to purchase the . . . [p]roperty for a fixed price ($365,000) at any time prior to February 1, 2038.” On May 21, 2009, Panoussis recorded a copy of the purported second lease. Old Town Redlands alleged that the purported second lease “is a fraud and forgery having absolutely no force and effect . . .” and prayed for a decree quieting title to the property, finding that Panoussis’s rights as a tenant, as well as Rodriguez’s rights as a subtenant, terminate on February 1, 2018 upon expiration of the first lease without right to extend or purchase. After a bench trial, the trial court ruled for Old Town Redlands on two independent grounds: (1) the purported second lease, extending the lease period to February 1, 2038 and giving Panoussis the option to purchase, was not “a genuine document actually entered into between the parties whose signatures it bears at or about February 1988,” but rather “sometime after 2002, long after [Old Town Redlands’s predecessor] had lost any interest in the [p]roperty,” and thus did not constitute a valid cloud on Old Town Redlands’s title to the property; and (2) even if the purported second lease were a genuine document, Panoussis and Rodriguez were equitably estopped from asserting its validity. Based on these findings, the court entered a judgment quieting title and cancelling instrument, stating that “[t]he [p]urported [second] [l]ease shall be and hereby is cancelled and shall be stricken from the records of the Los Angeles County Recorder” and “[t]itle to the . . . [p]roperty is quieted in favor of . . . Old Town