Ashrafi v. Khalili























Filed 10/13/10 Ashrafi v. Khalili CA2/7

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>NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

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California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts
and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or
ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for
publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115 >.





IN
THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA



SECOND
APPELLATE DISTRICT



DIVISION
SEVEN




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JAMSHID ASHRAFI et al., Plaintiffs, Cross-defendants and Appellants, v. SOROUR KHALILI et al., Defendants, Cross-complainants and Respondents.

B218690 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. SC092476)

APPEAL from
a judgment of the Superior Court
of Los Angeles
County, Lisa Hart Cole, Judge.
Affirmed.

Bahar│Law
Office and Sarvenaz Bahar for Plaintiffs, Cross-defendants and Appellants.

Fredman
Knupfer Lieberman and Howard S Fredman for Defendants, Cross-complainants and
Respondents.



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INTRODUCTION



Plaintiffs
and cross-defendants Jamshid Ashrafi, Ash Medical Billing, Inc., and The JA
Family Trust Dated 9/10/2004 appeal from a judgment in favor of defendants and
cross-complainants Sorour Khalili and EMBM Corp. We affirm.



FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND >[1]



Defendant
and cross-complainant Sorour Khalili (Khalili) had been working in the medical
billing business for several years when she started her own business under the
name Express Medical Billing Management Corp. (EMBM) in Los
Angeles in March 2000.
At the time, Khalili was unhappily married. She believed her husband was too controlling
over her and her finances. Khalili
created EMBM because she wanted to have a source of income independent of her
husband. She had a friend, Helen
Simanian (Simanian), set up a checking account for her under Simanian's name in
order to have an avenue to deposit and spend money outside of her husband's
control.

Shortly
after creating EMBM, Khalili met plaintiff and cross-defendant Jamshid Ashrafi
(Ashrafi). He managed a medical practice
for a podiatrist and moved the podiatrist's medical billing to EMBM. He also referred one or two other medical
practices to EMBM. Khalili agreed to pay
him a fee for his referrals based on an unspecified percentage of the billings
received.

Khalili and
Ashrafi had similar cultural backgrounds as Farsi-speaking Persians of Iranian
descent. Over time, their friendship
developed into a romantic relationship.
Khalili was culturally raised to be subservient to men, a pattern she
followed throughout her life beginning with her father, continuing with her
husband and Ashrafi.

Khalili
allowed Ashrafi to become increasingly involved in her business and personal
life. She told Ashrafi about her unhappy
marriage and her desire to protect her assets from her husband in the event of
a divorce. Ashrafi supported the concept
and agreed to hold Khalili's assets in his name for that purpose. For this reason, in 2002, Khalili agreed to
transfer her business, EMBM, entirely to Ashrafi under the similar name
â€