Murry v. Carras CA2/8

Filed 11/6/14 Murry v. Carras CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 EIGHT

ELMER MURRY, JR., B251381

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. VC061416) v.

MICHAEL J. CARRAS et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from the judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Margaret Miller Bernal, Judge. Reversed.

John A. Bunnett for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Michael J. Carras and Daniel A. Conforti, in pro. per.; and for Defendants and Respondents.

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This is an appeal from the sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend. Plaintiff Elmer Murry, Jr., sued his former attorneys, defendants Michael J. Carras and Daniel A. Conforti, as well as nonattorney Ricky Grayson and the individual defendants’ business, Draft Picks Management Group, LLC. Murry alleged defendants wrongfully divested him of his interest in his business, Draft Picks Limited Liability Company (the LLC), and that they raided and mismanaged the LLC’s assets. The LLC was a named plaintiff in the original complaint, but was omitted from the first amended complaint after the defendants pointed out, on demurrer to the original complaint, that the LLC’s privileges were suspended for nonpayment of taxes. Defendants thereafter demurred to the first amended complaint on the basis that Murry, as an individual, lacked standing to assert claims belonging to the LLC. The trial court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend. We find the first amended complaint states facts which would support individual claims by Murry that do not depend on the LLC’s participation in the lawsuit, and we reverse. BACKGROUND The original complaint was brought by plaintiff Elmer Murry, Jr., and his LLC, Draft Picks Limited Liability Company (the LLC), of which Murry was the sole member. The defendants are Michael J. Carras, Daniel A. Conforti, Ricky Grayson, and Draft Picks Management Group, LLC. The complaint alleged claims for fraud, cancellation of written instrument, rescission, imposition of constructive trust, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, declaratory relief, and an accounting. The LLC was the holding company for Murry’s sports restaurant, Draft Picks Sports Grill. Murry retained the attorney defendants, Carras and Conforti, to represent him in a dispute with his business partner in another sports restaurant, Draft Picks Pizza Pub. Over the course of that representation, the attorney defendants gained access to confidential information about Murry’s businesses, which they used to defraud Murry out of his interest in the LLC.