OnPoint expert Christine Davis testified on behalf of claimants in a dispute over an LLC formed by investors to purchase real property and develop a commercial building in Los Altos, California. In the case—filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court and later ordered to arbitration—claimants alleged several causes of action against the respondents who, in addition to being investors, were the promoters, managers and legal counsel for the investment. The allegations included fraud and misrepresentation, breach of contract, false promises, breaches of fiduciary duties, and violations of the Business and Professions Code; as compensation, claimants sought damages, an accounting of the project’s financial transactions, a constructive trust, declaratory relief, and a receivership. In her arbitration testimony, Ms. Davis offered her expert opinions regarding the quality of the accounting for the project, whether management fees were excessive, the various and alternative assumptions incorporated into the projected value of the property, and how certain of those assumptions contributed to the overstating of projected profits as presented in the prospectus. In an interim final award, the Arbitrator concluded that claimants were entitled to “an award vacating each of their investments based upon negligent misrepresentations of the fact upon which they individually relied and which induced their investments in the LLC.”
