No. 24-147

Levi Quintana v. Jonathan Kraut

Lower Court: California
Docketed: 2024-08-09
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: arbitration-award arbitrator-misconduct judicial-review partnership-dissolution statutory-interpretation tax-regulations
Key Terms:
Arbitration
Latest Conference: 2024-09-30
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the California Supreme Court erred in its ruling by failing to address an arbitrator's alleged misconduct in a partnership dissolution proceeding involving mischaracterization of partner draws and violation of federal tax statutes

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED ; ' Petitioner was a partner in a general partnership wherein he sought a buyout of his ; partnership interest and damages related for : wrongful disassociation. The dispute over partnership dissolution became the subject of an : arbitration proceeding from which the proceeding went horribly wrong. The proceeding was marked with irregularities from the outset, when the arbitrator, instead of simply utilizing applicable federal tax statutes on partnership dissolution in order to determine the basis of partnership assets and partnership liabilities according to applicable . Internal Revenue Service codes and regulations, instead, created a private loan agreement and mischaracterized partner draws as loans made to the Petitioner by the Respondent, which placed personal liability for such draws on the Petitioner only. ’ Despite Petitioner’s objections and arguments against this and other errors, the arbitrator ruled in favor of Respondent. Petitioner sought relief from ; the award in the trial court, alerting the court to the ; arbitrator’s failures to follow applicable tax and , related statutes for determining partner shares, debts and capital accounts and therefore exceeding her authority given as an arbitrator. The court denied Petitioner’s motion to set aside the award, : : ignored Petitioner’s records and affidavits that undermined the arbitrator’s award. The Second District Court of Appeal for the State of California ; refused to reverse the trial court’s ruling by denying Petitioner’s appeal. Petitioner proceeded with a ‘Petition for Review with the California Supreme Court, arguing that the full development of these troubling facts that could establish that.the . arbitrator, not only failed to follow basic statutory codes and regulations in determining partnership : interests and liabilities, that she exceeded her : authority by creating a loan agreement from partner . draws without any written agreement. The California Supreme Court denied the Petition for Review. ; ; . The question presented is: Whether the California Supreme Court erred in its ruling, given that the arbitrator not only failed to follow applicable federal statutes, codes and regulations in a partnership dissolution matter but . in addition, engaged in gross unfairness as alleged by the Petitioner herein.

Docket Entries

2024-10-07
Petition DENIED.
2024-08-14
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/30/2024.
2024-08-13
Waiver of right of respondent Jonathan Kraut to respond filed.
2024-06-24
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 9, 2024)

Attorneys

Jonathan Kraut
Richard Hiroshi Nakamura Jr.Clark Hill LLP, Respondent
Richard Hiroshi Nakamura Jr.Clark Hill LLP, Respondent
Levi Quintana
Levi Quintana — Petitioner
Levi Quintana — Petitioner