Young v. Debtwave Credit Counseling CA4/3

Filed 2/24/15 Young v. Debtwave Credit Counseling CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

CHRIS YOUNG et al.,

Plaintiffs and Appellants, G049508

v. (Super. Ct. No. 30-2011-00479121)

DEBTWAVE CREDIT COUNSELING, OPINION INC.,

Defendant and Respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Geoffrey T. Glass, Judge. Affirmed. Law Offices of Scott E. Schutzman and Scott E. Schutzman for Plaintiffs and Appellants. Dinsmore & Sandelmann, Frank Sandelmann and Kirsten Stockton for Defendant and Respondent. * * *

INTRODUCTION Chris Young and Freedom Consulting Group, LLC (Freedom), sued Debtwave Credit Counseling, Inc. (Debtwave), for quantum meruit. Debtwave filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing it was undisputed that Debtwave had not requested Young and Freedom to provide any services to it. The trial court granted the motion; we affirm. Young and Freedom failed to raise a triable issue of material fact countering Debtwave’s evidence that it did not request them to provide it with any services.

STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The Johnson Law Group (Johnson) provided debt settlement and debt management services to consumers. Debtwave provided back-office processing assistance to Johnson. In October 2008, Young contacted Debtwave asking if he could refer business to it. Debtwave referred Young to Johnson. Young entered into a marketing agreement with Johnson, under the terms of which Young would provide promotional and marketing services to Johnson and develop qualified leads for Johnson. Johnson agreed to pay Young $1,400 for each qualified lead. Young later formed Freedom, which entered into a separate marketing agreement with Johnson. Freedom provided the same services to Johnson, and received the same compensation from Johnson, as had Young. Debtwave was not a party to either Young’s or Freedom’s marketing agreements with Johnson. In April 2011, Young and Freedom stopped receiving any payments from Johnson; apparently, Johnson ceased performing debt settlement and management services when its sole partner was suspended from the practice of law. Debtwave contacted Johnson’s clients to offer its own debt management services; Johnson’s former clients retained Debtwave.