Verdicts & Settlements
March 11, 2024
Settlement: $7.5 Million
Plaintiff's Counsel
Laurence M. Berman (Berman Litigation Group);
Joanna Ardalan (ONE LLP)
Facts
Plaintiff Michael Palumbo sued defendants Jon Waterman and Dan Yomtobian to enforce an oral agreement to pay him 25% of the profits from selling the property at 911 Tione Road in Bel Air, California. The defendants and entities they controlled bought the Tione property to develop and sell it for a profit. Palumbo also sued Waterman and Yomtobian for fraud, claiming they defrauded him into providing services to the Tione property knowing they never intended to pay him.
Damages
Plaintiff sought damages for breach of contract and fraud, along with punitive damages.
Result
The jury awarded $3,503,030 in compensatory damages on February 13, 2024, and $4 million in punitive damages on February 15, 2024. The court dismissed the cross-complaint on a directed verdict.
In this court's view, it took a great deal of skill to master a presentation of all these documents in an understandable manner as plaintiff's counsel did.
In other words, this court is of the view that counsel in this case performed at a level which is, and was, above and beyond what this court customarily sees. — Judge Barbara A. Meiers