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1 David W. Berry, Esq. (SBN 180995)
Elizabeth A. Fritzinger, Esq. (SBN 283739)
2 Monica J. Lehre, Esq. (SBN 329046)
William R. LaBarge, Esq. (SBN 329713)
3 BERRY & FRITZINGER, P.C.
3550 Round Barn Blvd., Suite 312
4 Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Telephone: (707) 800-0550
5 Facsimile: (707) 800-0551
david@berryfritzlaw.com
6 elizabeth@berryfritzlaw.com
monica@berryfritzlaw.com
7 william@berryfritzlaw.com
8 Edward B. McCutchan, Esq. (SBN 119376)
SUNDERLAND MCCUTCHAN, LLP
9 1083 Vine Street, Suite 907
Healdsburg, CA 95448
10 Telephone: (707) 433-0377
T e l e p h o n e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 0 Fa c s i m i l e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 1
Facsimile: (707) 433-0379
11 emccutchan@sunmclaw.com
B E R RY & F R I T Z I N G E R , P . C .
3550 Round Barn Blvd., Suite 312
12 Attorneys for Defendants
LOUIS M. FOPPIANO, et al.
13
14 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SONOMA
15 SUSAN FOPPIANO VALERA, an Case No. SCV-269355
individual,
16 Assigned for All Purposes to Dept. 18
Plaintiff, Hon. Christopher Honigsberg
17
vs. DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH A.
18 FRITZINGER IN SUPPORT OF
LOUIS M. FOPPIANO, an individual and DEFENDANTS' PETITION FOR
19 as Trustee of The Helaine Noreen Foppiano INSTRUCTIONS TO REFEREE
and Louis Michael Foppiano 1997 Trust
20 dated December 23, 1997, HELAINE N.
FOPPIANO, an individual and as Trustee Date:
21 of The Helaine Noreen Foppiano and Louis Time:
Michael Foppiano 1997 Trust dated Dept.
22 December 23, 1997, PAUL FOPPIANO, an
individual, GINA M. HOCKER, an Action Filed: Oct. 1, 2021
23 individual and as Trustee of the Gina Marie Trial Date: None Set
Hocker Revocable Trust dated September
24 25, 2015, all persons unknown claiming
any interest in the property, and DOES
25 1 - 20,
26 Defendants.
27
28 -1-
DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH A. FRITZINGER IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS' PETITION FOR
INSTRUCTIONS TO REFEREE
1 I, Elizabeth A. Fritzinger, Esq., hereby declare as follows:
2 1. I am an attorney duly licensed to practice law before all of the courts of the State
3 of California and am an attorney at Berry & Fritzinger, P.C., attorneys of record for Defendants.
4 I am over 18 years of age, have had substantial responsibility for the prosecution of this action,
5 and I am familiar with the papers and pleadings on file herein. I have personal knowledge of the
6 facts set forth in this Declaration and would testify competently thereto if called upon to do so.
7 2. Approximately six weeks have passed since the Court entered the order appointing
8 Ms. Pond as referee and the posting of the bond. As of the date of this filing, I am unaware of
9 Ms. Pond posting any bond.
10 3. I have attempted to meet and confer with Plaintiff’s counsel regarding stipulating
T e l e p h o n e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 0 Fa c s i m i l e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 1
11 to certain instructions to the Referee, such as the means and method of listing the Subject
B E R RY & F R I T Z I N G E R , P . C .
3550 Round Barn Blvd., Suite 312
12 Property for sale, obtaining an appraisal to help determine the list price, how the costs of selling
13 the Subject Property will be initially funded, and other related matters. Attached hereto as
14 Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of my emails to Plaintiff’s attempting to meet and confer. It
15 was the Defendants’ goal that the parties could meet and confer on these issues and present a joint
16 stipulation to the Court in order for the Court to further instruct the referee. As of the filing of
17 this petition, Plaintiff’s counsel and Ms. Pond have not responded to my meet and confer
18 requests.
19 4. Approximately two weeks ago, Defendants learned that Ms. Pond had purportedly
20 retained a real estate broker and entered into a contract with the broker to list and sell the Subject
21 Property. Defendants have not seen this purported contract, nor has it been approved by the
22 Court. Defendants have mentioned their concern about the Referee entering into third party
23 contracts without Court approval, but to date have not received any response regarding this
24 concern.
25 ///
26 ///
27 ///
28 -2-
DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH A. FRITZINGER IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS' PETITION FOR
INSTRUCTIONS TO REFEREE
1 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the
2 foregoing is true and correct.
3 Executed on May 22, 2023, at Santa Rosa, California.
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__________________________
6 Elizabeth A. Fritzinger, Esq.
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T e l e p h o n e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 0 Fa c s i m i l e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 1
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B E R RY & F R I T Z I N G E R , P . C .
3550 Round Barn Blvd., Suite 312
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28 -3-
DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH A. FRITZINGER IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS' PETITION FOR
INSTRUCTIONS TO REFEREE
EXHIBIT A
From: Elizabeth Fritzinger
To: GWayland@attorneysRE.com; lindapond.realestate@yahoo.com
Cc: Monica Lehre; Edward McCutchan
Subject: RE: Valera v. Foppiano, et. al.
Date: Monday, May 15, 2023 2:02:00 PM
Attachments: image001.png
Good Afternoon, Mr. Wayland.
I included Ms. Pond on this email so that she understands the parties request to meet and confer on
instructions to sell the property.
Do you have time early this week for a conference call to discuss instructions to Ms. Pond? We are
concerned that the property will soon be listed for sale, and we haven’t agreed on the mechanics of
the sale, opening bid price, or approval of any third-party contract, including the listing agent
contract, etc.
The Defendants respectfully request to meet and confer before any further action is taken on the
listing of the property.
Please let us know a few times that work for you, and we will schedule the call.
Elizabeth Fritzinger
Attorney
Berry & Fritzinger, P.C.
3550 Round Barn Blvd., Ste. 312
Santa Rosa, California 95403
Office (707) 800-0550
Direct (707) 800-0553
elizabeth@berryfritzlaw.com
The content of this message is confidential. If you have received it by mistake, please inform us by an email reply and then
delete the message. It is forbidden to copy, forward, or in any way reveal the contents of this message to anyone. The integrity
and security of this email cannot be guaranteed over the Internet. Therefore, the sender will not be held liable for any damage
caused by the message.
From: Elizabeth Fritzinger
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2023 2:20 PM
To: GWayland@attorneysRE.com
Cc: Monica Lehre ; Edward McCutchan
Subject: RE: Valera v. Foppiano, et. al.
Good afternoon, Mr. Wayland.
I am following up on my below email. Please let me know if any have any time early next week for a
phone call.
I would like us to agree on instructions to the referee as soon as possible.
Elizabeth Fritzinger
Attorney
Berry & Fritzinger, P.C.
3550 Round Barn Blvd., Ste. 312
Santa Rosa, California 95403
Office (707) 800-0550
Direct (707) 800-0553
elizabeth@berryfritzlaw.com
The content of this message is confidential. If you have received it by mistake, please inform us by an email reply and then
delete the message. It is forbidden to copy, forward, or in any way reveal the contents of this message to anyone. The integrity
and security of this email cannot be guaranteed over the Internet. Therefore, the sender will not be held liable for any damage
caused by the message.
From: Elizabeth Fritzinger
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2023 4:00 PM
To: GWayland@attorneysRE.com
Cc: Monica Lehre ; Edward McCutchan
Subject: Valera v. Foppiano, et. al.
Importance: High
Mr. Wayland:
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elizabeth Fritzinger, and I am a partner at Berry &
Fritzinger, P.C. located in Santa Rosa, CA. Berry & Fritzinger, P.C. has been retained to represent the
interests of the defendants in Valera v. Foppiano, Sonoma County Superior Court case no. SCV-
269355 as co-counsel with Edward McCutchan. I’ve met with Ed, and he has brought me up to speed
on the case. I would like to meet and confer with you as soon as possible to get your thoughts
regarding working together on stipulated instructions to the court-appointed referee, Linda Pond, so
that the property at issue in this case, namely 12780 Old Redwood Hwy, Healdsburg, CA (the
“Property”), may be sold per the court order.
We’d like to specifically discuss the following:
1. Listing of the Property. We understand that Ms. Pond has retained real estate agent Paula
Gold-Nocella to list and sell the Property (although we find no current MLS listing for the
Property). The Property should be appraised before it is listed, and we should agree on the
offer price.
2. Appraisal. The Property should be appraised by a mutually agreed upon appraiser. There are
multiple issues with the house. To name a few: I understand that there is no ability to hook up
to water and sewer systems from the City of Healdsburg and currently no well water or septic
system for the residence. There may be hazards within the house such as lead paint (based on
the age of the house) and possibly asbestos issues. The residence is very close to Old
Redwood Highway so that noise and dust from traffic may reduce the value of the property.
Only an appraiser would be able to take into account the unique problems with the Property
and estimate FMV for the parties’ consideration.
3. The Costs of Selling the Property. Although the court order appointing the referee states her
hourly rate, and states in her declaration that she will be paid from the proceeds upon the
sale of the Property, it does not state how the costs to sell the Property are to be allocated
and paid-up front.
4. Selling the Property. We should discuss the logistics of selling the Property, such as how we
will reach an agreed upon sale price, acceptance of an offer, terms of the sale, etc.
We’d like to avoid petitioning the court for instructions. My hope is that a stipulation among the
parties that addresses these issues, and any other issues that arise, will avoid involving the court in
this process.
Please let me know if you have time this week or next week for a conference call.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Elizabeth Fritzinger
Attorney
Berry & Fritzinger, P.C.
3550 Round Barn Blvd., Ste. 312
Santa Rosa, California 95403
Office (707) 800-0550
Direct (707) 800-0553
elizabeth@berryfritzlaw.com
The content of this message is confidential. If you have received it by mistake, please inform us by an email reply and then
delete the message. It is forbidden to copy, forward, or in any way reveal the contents of this message to anyone. The integrity
and security of this email cannot be guaranteed over the Internet. Therefore, the sender will not be held liable for any damage
caused by the message.
Preview
1 David W. Berry, Esq. (SBN 180995) Elizabeth A. Fritzinger, Esq. (SBN 283739) 2 Monica J. Lehre, Esq. (SBN 329046) William R. LaBarge, Esq. (SBN 329713) 3 BERRY & FRITZINGER, P.C. 3550 Round Barn Blvd., Suite 312 4 Santa Rosa, CA 95403 Telephone: (707) 800-0550 5 Facsimile: (707) 800-0551 david@berryfritzlaw.com 6 elizabeth@berryfritzlaw.com monica@berryfritzlaw.com 7 william@berryfritzlaw.com 8 Edward B. McCutchan, Esq. (SBN 119376) SUNDERLAND MCCUTCHAN, LLP 9 1083 Vine Street, Suite 907 Healdsburg, CA 95448 10 Telephone: (707) 433-0377 T e l e p h o n e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 0 Fa c s i m i l e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 1 Facsimile: (707) 433-0379 11 emccutchan@sunmclaw.com B E R RY & F R I T Z I N G E R , P . C . 3550 Round Barn Blvd., Suite 312 12 Attorneys for Defendants LOUIS M. FOPPIANO, et al. 13 14 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SONOMA 15 SUSAN FOPPIANO VALERA, an Case No. SCV-269355 individual, 16 Assigned for All Purposes to Dept. 18 Plaintiff, Hon. Christopher Honigsberg 17 vs. DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH A. 18 FRITZINGER IN SUPPORT OF LOUIS M. FOPPIANO, an individual and DEFENDANTS' PETITION FOR 19 as Trustee of The Helaine Noreen Foppiano INSTRUCTIONS TO REFEREE and Louis Michael Foppiano 1997 Trust 20 dated December 23, 1997, HELAINE N. FOPPIANO, an individual and as Trustee Date: 21 of The Helaine Noreen Foppiano and Louis Time: Michael Foppiano 1997 Trust dated Dept. 22 December 23, 1997, PAUL FOPPIANO, an individual, GINA M. HOCKER, an Action Filed: Oct. 1, 2021 23 individual and as Trustee of the Gina Marie Trial Date: None Set Hocker Revocable Trust dated September 24 25, 2015, all persons unknown claiming any interest in the property, and DOES 25 1 - 20, 26 Defendants. 27 28 -1- DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH A. FRITZINGER IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS' PETITION FOR INSTRUCTIONS TO REFEREE 1 I, Elizabeth A. Fritzinger, Esq., hereby declare as follows: 2 1. I am an attorney duly licensed to practice law before all of the courts of the State 3 of California and am an attorney at Berry & Fritzinger, P.C., attorneys of record for Defendants. 4 I am over 18 years of age, have had substantial responsibility for the prosecution of this action, 5 and I am familiar with the papers and pleadings on file herein. I have personal knowledge of the 6 facts set forth in this Declaration and would testify competently thereto if called upon to do so. 7 2. Approximately six weeks have passed since the Court entered the order appointing 8 Ms. Pond as referee and the posting of the bond. As of the date of this filing, I am unaware of 9 Ms. Pond posting any bond. 10 3. I have attempted to meet and confer with Plaintiff’s counsel regarding stipulating T e l e p h o n e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 0 Fa c s i m i l e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 1 11 to certain instructions to the Referee, such as the means and method of listing the Subject B E R RY & F R I T Z I N G E R , P . C . 3550 Round Barn Blvd., Suite 312 12 Property for sale, obtaining an appraisal to help determine the list price, how the costs of selling 13 the Subject Property will be initially funded, and other related matters. Attached hereto as 14 Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of my emails to Plaintiff’s attempting to meet and confer. It 15 was the Defendants’ goal that the parties could meet and confer on these issues and present a joint 16 stipulation to the Court in order for the Court to further instruct the referee. As of the filing of 17 this petition, Plaintiff’s counsel and Ms. Pond have not responded to my meet and confer 18 requests. 19 4. Approximately two weeks ago, Defendants learned that Ms. Pond had purportedly 20 retained a real estate broker and entered into a contract with the broker to list and sell the Subject 21 Property. Defendants have not seen this purported contract, nor has it been approved by the 22 Court. Defendants have mentioned their concern about the Referee entering into third party 23 contracts without Court approval, but to date have not received any response regarding this 24 concern. 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 28 -2- DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH A. FRITZINGER IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS' PETITION FOR INSTRUCTIONS TO REFEREE 1 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the 2 foregoing is true and correct. 3 Executed on May 22, 2023, at Santa Rosa, California. 4 5 __________________________ 6 Elizabeth A. Fritzinger, Esq. 7 8 9 10 T e l e p h o n e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 0 Fa c s i m i l e : ( 7 0 7 ) 8 0 0 - 0 5 5 1 11 B E R RY & F R I T Z I N G E R , P . C . 3550 Round Barn Blvd., Suite 312 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -3- DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH A. FRITZINGER IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS' PETITION FOR INSTRUCTIONS TO REFEREE EXHIBIT A From: Elizabeth Fritzinger To: GWayland@attorneysRE.com; lindapond.realestate@yahoo.com Cc: Monica Lehre; Edward McCutchan Subject: RE: Valera v. Foppiano, et. al. Date: Monday, May 15, 2023 2:02:00 PM Attachments: image001.png Good Afternoon, Mr. Wayland. I included Ms. Pond on this email so that she understands the parties request to meet and confer on instructions to sell the property. Do you have time early this week for a conference call to discuss instructions to Ms. Pond? We are concerned that the property will soon be listed for sale, and we haven’t agreed on the mechanics of the sale, opening bid price, or approval of any third-party contract, including the listing agent contract, etc. The Defendants respectfully request to meet and confer before any further action is taken on the listing of the property. Please let us know a few times that work for you, and we will schedule the call. Elizabeth Fritzinger Attorney Berry & Fritzinger, P.C. 3550 Round Barn Blvd., Ste. 312 Santa Rosa, California 95403 Office (707) 800-0550 Direct (707) 800-0553 elizabeth@berryfritzlaw.com The content of this message is confidential. If you have received it by mistake, please inform us by an email reply and then delete the message. It is forbidden to copy, forward, or in any way reveal the contents of this message to anyone. The integrity and security of this email cannot be guaranteed over the Internet. Therefore, the sender will not be held liable for any damage caused by the message. From: Elizabeth Fritzinger Sent: Friday, May 12, 2023 2:20 PM To: GWayland@attorneysRE.com Cc: Monica Lehre ; Edward McCutchan Subject: RE: Valera v. Foppiano, et. al. Good afternoon, Mr. Wayland. I am following up on my below email. Please let me know if any have any time early next week for a phone call. I would like us to agree on instructions to the referee as soon as possible. Elizabeth Fritzinger Attorney Berry & Fritzinger, P.C. 3550 Round Barn Blvd., Ste. 312 Santa Rosa, California 95403 Office (707) 800-0550 Direct (707) 800-0553 elizabeth@berryfritzlaw.com The content of this message is confidential. If you have received it by mistake, please inform us by an email reply and then delete the message. It is forbidden to copy, forward, or in any way reveal the contents of this message to anyone. The integrity and security of this email cannot be guaranteed over the Internet. Therefore, the sender will not be held liable for any damage caused by the message. From: Elizabeth Fritzinger Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2023 4:00 PM To: GWayland@attorneysRE.com Cc: Monica Lehre ; Edward McCutchan Subject: Valera v. Foppiano, et. al. Importance: High Mr. Wayland: Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elizabeth Fritzinger, and I am a partner at Berry & Fritzinger, P.C. located in Santa Rosa, CA. Berry & Fritzinger, P.C. has been retained to represent the interests of the defendants in Valera v. Foppiano, Sonoma County Superior Court case no. SCV- 269355 as co-counsel with Edward McCutchan. I’ve met with Ed, and he has brought me up to speed on the case. I would like to meet and confer with you as soon as possible to get your thoughts regarding working together on stipulated instructions to the court-appointed referee, Linda Pond, so that the property at issue in this case, namely 12780 Old Redwood Hwy, Healdsburg, CA (the “Property”), may be sold per the court order. We’d like to specifically discuss the following: 1. Listing of the Property. We understand that Ms. Pond has retained real estate agent Paula Gold-Nocella to list and sell the Property (although we find no current MLS listing for the Property). The Property should be appraised before it is listed, and we should agree on the offer price. 2. Appraisal. The Property should be appraised by a mutually agreed upon appraiser. There are multiple issues with the house. To name a few: I understand that there is no ability to hook up to water and sewer systems from the City of Healdsburg and currently no well water or septic system for the residence. There may be hazards within the house such as lead paint (based on the age of the house) and possibly asbestos issues. The residence is very close to Old Redwood Highway so that noise and dust from traffic may reduce the value of the property. Only an appraiser would be able to take into account the unique problems with the Property and estimate FMV for the parties’ consideration. 3. The Costs of Selling the Property. Although the court order appointing the referee states her hourly rate, and states in her declaration that she will be paid from the proceeds upon the sale of the Property, it does not state how the costs to sell the Property are to be allocated and paid-up front. 4. Selling the Property. We should discuss the logistics of selling the Property, such as how we will reach an agreed upon sale price, acceptance of an offer, terms of the sale, etc. We’d like to avoid petitioning the court for instructions. My hope is that a stipulation among the parties that addresses these issues, and any other issues that arise, will avoid involving the court in this process. Please let me know if you have time this week or next week for a conference call. I look forward to hearing from you. Elizabeth Fritzinger Attorney Berry & Fritzinger, P.C. 3550 Round Barn Blvd., Ste. 312 Santa Rosa, California 95403 Office (707) 800-0550 Direct (707) 800-0553 elizabeth@berryfritzlaw.com The content of this message is confidential. If you have received it by mistake, please inform us by an email reply and then delete the message. It is forbidden to copy, forward, or in any way reveal the contents of this message to anyone. The integrity and security of this email cannot be guaranteed over the Internet. Therefore, the sender will not be held liable for any damage caused by the message.