Sacramento Partner Justine Kilpatrick obtained a dismissal on behalf of the firm’s client, a real estate broker, after multiple plaintiffs asserted claims arising from alleged frauds perpetuated by a formerly affiliated real estate agent of the broker.
The plaintiffs alleged that they invested sums exceeding $700,000 with the agent, based on the agent’s promises to repay those amounts with interest or enter the plaintiffs into various lotteries. The plaintiffs’ counsel advised of their intent to relate and consolidate this case with other pending cases against the same individual.
Kilpatrick filed a demurrer, arguing that the broker owed no duties to the plaintiffs because the plaintiffs did not allege any real estate transactions necessitating a broker. The court sustained Kilpatrick's demurrer, with leave to amend, and recommended that the plaintiffs “try the case they have, not the one they wish they had." On the day of the deadline to amend, the plaintiffs issued a dismissal of the firm's broker client.