Preview
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DocuSign Envelope ID: D873954C-225E-4E31-BDB3-37282E8FDB0F
JEFFREY E. TSAI (SBN 226081)
1 jeff.tsai@us.dlapiper.com
2 KATHLEEN S. KIZER (SBN 246035)
kathy.kizer@us.dlapiper.com
3 EMILY ROSE MARGOLIS (SBN 324089)
emily.margolis@us.dlapiper.com
4 DLA PIPER LLP (US)
555 Mission Street, Suite 2400
5
San Francisco, California 94105-2933
6 Tel: 415.836.2500 | Fax: 415.836.2501
7 Attorneys for Defendants
CELESTE WHITE, DR. ROBERT WHITE, and
8 THE VALLEY ROCK FOUNDATION
9
10
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
11
FOR THE COUNTY OF NAPA
12
LISA KEITH, an individual, CASE NO. 22CV001269
13
14 Plaintiff, DECLARATION OF MARISOL LOPEZ IN
SUPPORT OF THIRD PARTIES’
15 v. OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S MOTION
TO COMPEL DEPOSITION OF PERSON
CELESTE WHITE, an individual, ROBERT
16 MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE; FURTHER
WHITE, an individual, the VALLEY ROCK RESPONSES; AND PRODUCTION OF
FOUNDATION, aka THE BAR 49
17 DOCUMENTS FROM PLATINUM
FOUNDATION, a charitable organization, ADVISORS, LLC AND KENWOOD
and DOES 1-50, INCLUSIVE,
18 INVESTMENTS, LLC; MEMORANDUM
OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN
Defendants. SUPPORT; AND FOR MONETARY
19
SANCTIONS
20
Date: March 19, 2024
21 Time: 8:30 a.m.
Judge: Hon. Scott R.L. Young
22 Dept.: B
23 Complaint Filed: October 25, 2022
FAC Filed: March 8, 2023
24 Trial Date: April 2, 2024
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26
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-1-
DEC. OF M. LOPEZ ISO THIRD PARTIES’ OPP TO PLT’S MTC DEPO OF PMK; FURTHER RESPONSES AND
POD FROM PLATINUM ADVISORS, LLC AND KENWOOD INVESTMENTS, LLC; CASE NO. 22CV001269
II
DocuSign Envelope ID: D873954C-225E-4E31-BDB3-37282E8FDB0F
1 I, Marisol Lopez, declare as follows:
2 1. I am over 18 years of age. I am the Chief Operating Officer of Kenwood
3 Investments, LLC (“Kenwood”), and also help manage Platinum Advisors, LLC (“Platinum”).
4 This declaration is based on my personal knowledge. If called to testify, I could and would testify
5 competently to the matters herein.
6 2. Platinum and Kenwood produced all documents responsive to Plaintiff’s subpoenas
7 on February 26, 2024.
8 3. Charles Fina is the Chief Financial Officer of Platinum Advisors, LLC and also
9 helps oversee Kenwood Investments, LLC As preparation to serve as Person Most Qualified in
10 response to Plaintiff’s subpoenas to Platinum and Kenwood, Mr. Fina spoke with me and my
11 colleague Darius Anderson to understand the work that Platinum and Kenwood performed for
12 Celeste White and Dr. Robert White, to the extent that any of that work was not already within his
13 personal knowledge.
14 4. Platinum did no work for the Whites.
15 5. Kenwood’s work for the Whites was limited to marketing website work and social
16 media work pertaining to the Whites’ philanthropic and business endeavors.
17 6. Neither Platinum nor Kenwood performed any services for the Whites related to
18 any press releases, including the press releases at issue in this litigation. Instead, we referred the
19 Whites to Singer Associates Inc. for all work related to press releases, media, and public relations.
20 7. There were discussions about helping get the news release that Singer Associates
21 drafted for the Whites published in the North Bay Business Journal (NBBJ). I contacted Steve
22 Falk at the Press Democrat about possibly publishing a story in the NBBJ, and he agreed to talk to
23 Sam Singer, so I asked him to call Sam Singer for this purpose. That is the full extent of my
24 involvement (or anyone else at Kenwood) in attempting to distribute news about the Whites. It is
25 my understanding that NBBJ did not publish a story about the Whites.
26 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the
27 foregoing is true and correct. Executed on March 12, 2024, Sacramento, California.
28
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DEC. OF M. LOPEZ ISO THIRD PARTIES’ OPP TO PLT’S MTC DEPO OF PMK; FURTHER RESPONSES AND
POD FROM PLATINUM ADVISORS, LLC AND KENWOOD INVESTMENTS, LLC; CASE NO. 22CV001269
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DocuSign Envelope ID: D873954C-225E-4E31-BDB3-37282EBFDB0F
DocuSigned by:
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7EBA44E748F141 E ..
2 Marisol Lopez
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DEC. OF M. LOPEZ ISO THIRD PARTIES’ OPP TO PLT’S MTC DEPO OF PMK; FURTHER RESPONSES AND
POD FROM PLATINUM ADVISORS, LLC AND KENWOOD INVESTMENTS, LLC; CASE NO. 22CV001269
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DocuSign Envelope ID: D873954C-225E-4E31-BDB3-372B2E8FDB0F
1 PROOF OF SERVICE
2 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
3 I am employed in the County of San Francisco, State of California. I am over the age of 18
4 and not a party to the within action; my business address is: DLA Piper LLP (US), 555 Mission
5 Street, Suite 2400, San Francisco, CA 94105.
6 On March 13, 2024, I served the foregoing document(s) described as:
DECLARATION OF MARISOL LOPEZ IN SUPPORT OF THIRD PARTIES’
7 OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSITION OF
8 PERSON MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE; FURTHER RESPONSES; AND
PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS FROM PLATINUM ADVISORS, LLC AND
9 KENWOOD INVESTMENTS, LLC; MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND
AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT; AND FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS
10
on the following:
11
John S. Rueppel
12 Angie Lam
JOHNSTON, KINNEY & ZULAICA LLP
13 101 Montgomery Street, Suite 1600
San Francisco, California 94104
14
T: 415.693.0550
15 F: 415.693.0500
E: john@jkzllp.com
16 evan@jkzllp.com
Attorneys for Plaintiff Lisa Keith
17
18
I transmitted copies of the document(s) described above via e-mail to the persons at the
19
email addresses set forth above pursuant to the parties’ mutual agreement on or about March 21,
20
2023, to provide service by e-mail.
21
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the above is
22
true and correct.
23
Executed on March 13, 2024, at Fremont, California.
24
25
Christina Perez
26
27
28
PROOF OF SERVICE
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II DocuSign Envelope ID: D873954C-225E-4E31-BDB3-37282E8FDB0F JEFFREY E. TSAI (SBN 226081) 1 jeff.tsai@us.dlapiper.com 2 KATHLEEN S. KIZER (SBN 246035) kathy.kizer@us.dlapiper.com 3 EMILY ROSE MARGOLIS (SBN 324089) emily.margolis@us.dlapiper.com 4 DLA PIPER LLP (US) 555 Mission Street, Suite 2400 5 San Francisco, California 94105-2933 6 Tel: 415.836.2500 | Fax: 415.836.2501 7 Attorneys for Defendants CELESTE WHITE, DR. ROBERT WHITE, and 8 THE VALLEY ROCK FOUNDATION 9 10 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 11 FOR THE COUNTY OF NAPA 12 LISA KEITH, an individual, CASE NO. 22CV001269 13 14 Plaintiff, DECLARATION OF MARISOL LOPEZ IN SUPPORT OF THIRD PARTIES’ 15 v. OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSITION OF PERSON CELESTE WHITE, an individual, ROBERT 16 MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE; FURTHER WHITE, an individual, the VALLEY ROCK RESPONSES; AND PRODUCTION OF FOUNDATION, aka THE BAR 49 17 DOCUMENTS FROM PLATINUM FOUNDATION, a charitable organization, ADVISORS, LLC AND KENWOOD and DOES 1-50, INCLUSIVE, 18 INVESTMENTS, LLC; MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN Defendants. SUPPORT; AND FOR MONETARY 19 SANCTIONS 20 Date: March 19, 2024 21 Time: 8:30 a.m. Judge: Hon. Scott R.L. Young 22 Dept.: B 23 Complaint Filed: October 25, 2022 FAC Filed: March 8, 2023 24 Trial Date: April 2, 2024 25 26 27 28 -1- DEC. OF M. LOPEZ ISO THIRD PARTIES’ OPP TO PLT’S MTC DEPO OF PMK; FURTHER RESPONSES AND POD FROM PLATINUM ADVISORS, LLC AND KENWOOD INVESTMENTS, LLC; CASE NO. 22CV001269 II DocuSign Envelope ID: D873954C-225E-4E31-BDB3-37282E8FDB0F 1 I, Marisol Lopez, declare as follows: 2 1. I am over 18 years of age. I am the Chief Operating Officer of Kenwood 3 Investments, LLC (“Kenwood”), and also help manage Platinum Advisors, LLC (“Platinum”). 4 This declaration is based on my personal knowledge. If called to testify, I could and would testify 5 competently to the matters herein. 6 2. Platinum and Kenwood produced all documents responsive to Plaintiff’s subpoenas 7 on February 26, 2024. 8 3. Charles Fina is the Chief Financial Officer of Platinum Advisors, LLC and also 9 helps oversee Kenwood Investments, LLC As preparation to serve as Person Most Qualified in 10 response to Plaintiff’s subpoenas to Platinum and Kenwood, Mr. Fina spoke with me and my 11 colleague Darius Anderson to understand the work that Platinum and Kenwood performed for 12 Celeste White and Dr. Robert White, to the extent that any of that work was not already within his 13 personal knowledge. 14 4. Platinum did no work for the Whites. 15 5. Kenwood’s work for the Whites was limited to marketing website work and social 16 media work pertaining to the Whites’ philanthropic and business endeavors. 17 6. Neither Platinum nor Kenwood performed any services for the Whites related to 18 any press releases, including the press releases at issue in this litigation. Instead, we referred the 19 Whites to Singer Associates Inc. for all work related to press releases, media, and public relations. 20 7. There were discussions about helping get the news release that Singer Associates 21 drafted for the Whites published in the North Bay Business Journal (NBBJ). I contacted Steve 22 Falk at the Press Democrat about possibly publishing a story in the NBBJ, and he agreed to talk to 23 Sam Singer, so I asked him to call Sam Singer for this purpose. That is the full extent of my 24 involvement (or anyone else at Kenwood) in attempting to distribute news about the Whites. It is 25 my understanding that NBBJ did not publish a story about the Whites. 26 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the 27 foregoing is true and correct. Executed on March 12, 2024, Sacramento, California. 28 -2- DEC. OF M. LOPEZ ISO THIRD PARTIES’ OPP TO PLT’S MTC DEPO OF PMK; FURTHER RESPONSES AND POD FROM PLATINUM ADVISORS, LLC AND KENWOOD INVESTMENTS, LLC; CASE NO. 22CV001269 II DocuSign Envelope ID: D873954C-225E-4E31-BDB3-37282EBFDB0F DocuSigned by: 1 7EBA44E748F141 E .. 2 Marisol Lopez 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -3- DEC. OF M. LOPEZ ISO THIRD PARTIES’ OPP TO PLT’S MTC DEPO OF PMK; FURTHER RESPONSES AND POD FROM PLATINUM ADVISORS, LLC AND KENWOOD INVESTMENTS, LLC; CASE NO. 22CV001269 II DocuSign Envelope ID: D873954C-225E-4E31-BDB3-372B2E8FDB0F 1 PROOF OF SERVICE 2 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 3 I am employed in the County of San Francisco, State of California. I am over the age of 18 4 and not a party to the within action; my business address is: DLA Piper LLP (US), 555 Mission 5 Street, Suite 2400, San Francisco, CA 94105. 6 On March 13, 2024, I served the foregoing document(s) described as: DECLARATION OF MARISOL LOPEZ IN SUPPORT OF THIRD PARTIES’ 7 OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DEPOSITION OF 8 PERSON MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE; FURTHER RESPONSES; AND PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS FROM PLATINUM ADVISORS, LLC AND 9 KENWOOD INVESTMENTS, LLC; MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT; AND FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS 10 on the following: 11 John S. Rueppel 12 Angie Lam JOHNSTON, KINNEY & ZULAICA LLP 13 101 Montgomery Street, Suite 1600 San Francisco, California 94104 14 T: 415.693.0550 15 F: 415.693.0500 E: john@jkzllp.com 16 evan@jkzllp.com Attorneys for Plaintiff Lisa Keith 17 18 I transmitted copies of the document(s) described above via e-mail to the persons at the 19 email addresses set forth above pursuant to the parties’ mutual agreement on or about March 21, 20 2023, to provide service by e-mail. 21 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the above is 22 true and correct. 23 Executed on March 13, 2024, at Fremont, California. 24 25 Christina Perez 26 27 28 PROOF OF SERVICE