Chamat v. Latham & Watkins
Defendant Latham & Watkins LLP (Latham) deposed plaintiff Mauricio Chamat as a third party witness on behalf of its client Precision Development, LLC (Precision) in an accounting and real estate action filed by Precision against Yuri and Natalia Plyam (the Pylams) in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Judgment was entered in favor of Precision and against the Pylams in the amount of $10.3 million.
In this action, Chamat sues Precision for "abuse of process" seeking, based upon his deposition testimony, a share of Precision's $10.3 million judgment. Precision demurred to the complaint, and the court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend, finding that because Chamat was deposed as a percipient witness, he was not entitled to any compensation for his deposition testimony.
On appeal, Chamat, again acting in propria person, asserts (1) he has ownership rights in his work papers; (2) owed no duty to Precision in the underlying action; (3) Latham misrepresented that he was a servant of Latham in the underlying case; (4) Latham misrepresented that he performed accounting services instead of an audit; (5) Latham admitted that misrepresentation in court; and (6) the legal standard for sustaining a demurrer was not met. We affirm.
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