Popular Leasing/California

In Thursday's story, “ Lessee Sues Popular Leasing First, Gets Jurisdiction,” Gregg Rapoport, the attorney involved requested that we clear up information that was told to us by his client, and there was no objection to using the company name.

1. Gregg Rapoport, the attorney for Organic By Nature suggested his client hire defense counsel in Missouri and then bring the suit to California, while stopping all payments to Popular.

2. Suing in California was desirable, among other things, as it provided Organic By Nature with the ability to recover its attorney's fees if it won.

3. Popular lost its motion to dismiss in California not because the California NorVergence lessee's had sued first (it did not) but because the floating venue clause was ruled unenforceable under California law (under Hunt v. Superior Court (2000) 81 CA4th 901). The ruling is attached.

4. Popular dismissed its Missouri action and brought it as a cross-complaint in the California action.

5. This same pattern occurred in five other California cases in California. Attorneys for the customers in all six cases (not eight) joined together in a motion to have the cases brought before one judge. The motion was granted in June (see attached) and a single consolidated California case was established in Orange County Superior Court (see attached).

6. There is a procedure to assign future plaintiffs/cases against Popular to be part of the consolidated case, so that all of the cases may be litigated efficiently.

Gregg A. Rapoport
Of Counsel to LEE & ROSENBERGER, a Prof. Corp.
135 West Green St., Suite 100
Pasadena, CA 91105
Tel: (626) 359-8080
Direct No. and voicemail: (626) 585-0155
Fax: (626) 585-0355
gar@garlaw.us

http://leasingnews.org/PDF/OrganicRuling.pdf
http://leasingnews.org/PDF/CoordinatingOrder.pdf
http://leasingnews.org/PDF/TransferOrder.pdf

(edited from the original )

Organic by Nature has collected all the NorVergence web sites, while they were still up, they report, and found a place that had previous NorVergence web sites and has full copies of them all, plus all the sales literature and sales procedures. He also was able to locate the sales person from NorVergence who sold him the lease ( and others, too.)

In California, often a verbal promise or deception may over rule a contract, particularly if it is fraudulent in nature. In addition to the above, the person involved has also collected other information about the Salzano's and their involvement in other enterprises to prove their original intent.