Hunter v. LAACO Ltd. CA4/3

Filed 3/5/24 Hunter v. LAACO Ltd. 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NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

RUBY HUNTER,

Plaintiff and Appellant, G061794

v. (Super. Ct. No. 30-2018-01038749)

LAACO LTD, OPINION

Defendant and Respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Derek W. Hunt, Judge. Affirmed. Ruby Hunter, in pro. per., for Plaintiff and Appellant. Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman, Fred R. Vasquez and Vania M. Caro for Defendant and Respondent.

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Plaintiff Ruby Hunter, who is representing herself, appeals the trial court’s confirmation of an arbitration award in favor of LAACO Ltd., dba Storage West (LAACO), a self-storage company. Her sole brief fails to meet her burden to demonstrate reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

I FACTS We draw the facts from the record. On June 23, 2014, Hunter entered into a written month-to-month lease for the rental of a self-storage unit in Lake Forest. The rent was $359 per month, and the lease, which included an arbitration clause, also had provisions for late fees and other charges. A witness named Arthur Masaoka provided LAACO a check on Hunter’s behalf for the first payment, but that check was returned for insufficient funds. No other rental payments were ever made by Hunter or on her behalf. Further, the address and phone number that Hunter provided were incorrect. On July 10, 2014, LAACO posted a preliminary lien notice. In August, LAACO received notice that Hunter had filed for bankruptcy, and accordingly, it did not proceed with the lien sale. Hunter’s address was also corrected around this time. LAACO attempted to collect the unpaid rent for several years, but it was unsuccessful. In August 2017, LAACO posted a new notice of lien sale and served Hunter with the notice. She did not respond. LAACO then sent Hunter an auction notice, which Hunter received. She did not appear at the auction sale and the contents of her unit were sold to a third party. In December 2018, Hunter filed a complaint against LAACO for violations 1 of Business and Professions Code section 17200 (alleging a violation of § 21713.5), and for “Customer Data Security Breach under the Federal Trade Commission Act,” citing