Kabrins v. Novella CA2/1

Filed 11/18/22 Kabrins v. Novella CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

HOWDY S. KABRINS et al., B308446

Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC670095) v.

DIEGO DOUGHERTY NOVELLA,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Mark A. Young, Judge. Affirmed. Murphy Rosen, Paul D. Murphy, Daniel N. Csillag; Covington & Burling, Daniel N. Shallman for Plaintiff and Appellant Howdy S. Kabrins. Tisdale & Nicholson, Michael D. Stein for Plaintiff and Appellant Doris Weitz. Holland & Knight, Kristina S. Azlin and Samuel J. Stone for Defendant and Respondent. ___________________________________

In 2015, Diego Novella, a resident of Guatemala, murdered his girlfriend, Gabriella Kabrins Alban, who grew up in Southern California but sometimes lived in Guatemala, while the two were travelling in South Africa to seek treatment for Alban’s Lyme disease. Novella was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 20 years in a South Africa prison. Alban’s parents, Howdy S. Kabrins and Doris Weitz, both California residents, sued Novella for wrongful death. The trial court granted Novella’s motion to quash service of summons on the ground that it lacked jurisdiction. We affirm that order. BACKGROUND Alban was born in Los Angeles and resided in California for most of her life. Novella also resided in California for several years but was most recently a resident of Guatemala. In 2013, Alban began dating Novella, and the following year moved to Guatemala to live with him. Alban suffered from Lyme disease, originally misdiagnosed as Addison’s disease, which caused her constant physical and emotional pain. In December 2014, she returned from Guatemala to California, where she was largely bedridden. In March 2015, Alban discovered a clinic in Germany that might be able to treat her Lyme disease, and scheduled a trip to the clinic for late May 2015. Meanwhile, Novella had traveled from Guatemala to South Africa to obtain medical treatment for “prior psychological trauma” from Rhoda Slabbert-Barron, who offered a “purification program” consisting of colon cleansing, sauna purification and “sacred plant medicine” involving cannabis oil and ibogaine, a dangerous hallucinogen.