Yanez v. Gardea













Filed 5/3/10 Yanez v. Gardea CA4/3









NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS



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opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for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



FOURTH APPELLATE
DISTRICT



DIVISION THREE




>

ABELINO YANEZ et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. CHARYTO GARDEA et al., Defendants and Appellants.

G041399 (Super. Ct. No. 07CC07671) O P I N I O N

Appeal from a judgment
of the Superior Court
of Orange
County, Daniel J. Didier, Judge. Affirmed.

Woods & Krolikowski,
Adam J. Krolikowski and Rebekah Conrad Bhansali for Defendants and Appellants.

Payne & Fears,
Daniel L. Rasmussen and Mark E. Earnest for Plaintiffs and Respondents.





Defendants
Charyto Gardea, her mother Nidia Uriarte, her sister Alma Avalos, her brother
Antonio Avalos, and her husband Juan Gutierrez appeal from a judgment in which
the court imposed a constructive trust on funds embezzled from Gardea's
employer, plaintiff Ross Pallets, Inc. and its sole owner, plaintiff Abelino
Yanez. They contend the court applied
the wrong burden of proof and that
the evidence was legally deficient. We
reject their claims and affirm the judgment.



FACTS



Ross Pallets repairs,
sells and purchases wooden pallets.
Gardea worked for the company for almost 10 years, first as an office
assistant then as office manager. She
controlled the company's finances and her responsibilities included daily
accounting of bought and sold pallets, tracking cash use, preparing payroll
information and documents for tax purposes, collecting accounts receivable, and
paying company bills.

Yanez, who had become
close friends with Gardea and was one of her children's godfather, trusted her
with the company's finances and his personal bank accounts, checks, and credit
cards because he lacked computer, accounting, and English skills. He relied on her to provide accurate reports
of the company's finances.

A large portion of the
company's business uses cash to purchase damaged pallets to be repaired and
re-sold. To obtain the cash, Gardea
wrote company checks out to â€