Ten v. Shen CA2/1

Filed 6/27/16 Ten v. Shen CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

LIN WEN TEN, B255299

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. GC041516) v.

VINCENT SHEN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. John P. Doyle, Judge. Affirmed. Law Offices of Robert J. McKay, Robert J. McKay; Garret & Tully, Ryan C. Squire, Zi C. Lin and Motunrayo D. Akinmurele for Plaintiff and Appellant. Law Offices of Paul P. Cheng, Paul P. Cheng and Peter Tran for Defendant and Appellant.

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Vincent Shen appeals a superior court judgment awarding his stepfather, Lin Wen Ten, $1,261,013 after the court found Shen and his deceased mother, Fong Chu Hsu, defrauded Ten by falsely titling a property acquired entirely with Ten’s funds and during Ten and Hsu’s marriage in Hsu’s name as “a single woman” and subsequently transferring the property to Hsu and Shen as joint tenants. Shen argues the trial court erred in prejudicially relying on inadmissible evidence consisting of contested exhibits. Ten counters that many of the challenged evidentiary exhibits were not admitted and the exhibits that were admitted were not prejudicial because the court relied on other substantial evidence in making its ruling. Ten cross-appealed, arguing the court erred in refusing to award him punitive damages for Shen and Hsu’s fraud.1 We affirm. FACTUAL BACKGROUND Ten and Shen’s dispute involves a residence located in Arcadia. Before the property’s purchase, Ten married Shen’s mother, Hsu, in Taiwan. The couple were domiciled there prior to and upon Hsu’s death on September 30, 2008. Hsu, who was of Taiwanese descent, apparently did not spend much time in the United States and did not read, speak, or understand English. Unlike Hsu, Shen lived in California from age 10 until 2009 and understands English well.2 During his time in California, Shen attended Pasadena City College, Cal Poly Pomona, and Pepperdine University, obtained a degree in finance and a Series 7 financial license, and worked for Morgan Stanley. On January 7, 2003, Hsu used Ten’s funds to purchase the property for $1.85 million. According to Ten, he understood he and Hsu were purchasing the property together as husband and wife and the property would be jointly titled in their names as community property. Hsu, however, recorded the deed in her name only, as a