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TOM GIFFORD, Esq., SBN 135759
Law Office of Tom Gifford
113 W. North Street FTLEND
Alturas, CA 96101 Superior Co car Cotorn
Telephone (530) 233-3100 sunny oF Rises
Facsimile (530) 233-3191 JUN 05 2020
Attorney for Defendants, Jake Chatiers
Executive Officer & Clerk
John Flournoy, David Flournoy, William Flournoy, By: L.Sanders, Deputy
Myles Flournoy, Jennifer Flournoy, Frieda Fisher-Dubois,
and Likely Land & Livestock, Co., Inc.
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF PLACER
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1] SHIRLEY WRIGHT AND ALBERT )
RISTAU, as attorney-in-fact for SHIRLEY ) Case No.: SCV0042799
12 WRIGHT and as Successor Trustee of the )
WRIGHT 1990 TRUST, dated November 14, )
13 1990, )
Plaintiffs, )
14 )
)
.
Vs.
DECLARATION OF TOM GIFFORD
LIKELY LAND & LIVESTOCK CO., INC., a)
California corporation, JOHN FLOURNOY, )
DAVID FLOURNOY, WILLIAM )
FLOURNOY, MYLES FLOURNOY, )
JENNIFER FLOURNOY, FRIEDA FISHER- ) DATE: June 12, 2020
DUBOIS, AND PLACER TITLE ) TIME: 8:30 a.m.
COMPANY, a California corporation, and
) DEPT.: 31
DOES 1 through 100, inclusive, )
20 )
)
21 Defendants. )
22 I,TOM GIFFORD, DECLARE as follows:
23 1.) That approximately 6 years ago I represented DAVID FLOURNOY in a dissolution
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action from his long term wife, JOANNE FLOURNOY. JOANNE FLOURNOY was
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DECLARATION OF TOM GIFFORD
claiming an interest in Likely Land & Livestock Company, Inc. (LL&L) as
community property;
2.) That Iarranged for Attorney TYLER LALAGUNA at the Law Firm of Reese, Small,
Weil & Fleharty to represent LL&L;
3.) That Inever represented LL&L, nor JOHN or WILLIAM FLOURNOY. However,
there were nIRCHTS discussions with them, but they were represented by MR.
LALAGUNA;
4.) That I have never known the FLOURNOYS socially, and thus, the very next time I
had ever heard anything from the FLOURNOYS was on August 17, 2018, when
MYLES FLOURNOY contacted the undersigned that SHIRLEY WRIGHT had
moved from some real property that they had purchased from her and left behind a lot
of her personal property;
5.) That Iwas advised by MYLES FLOURNOY that he had been talking to SHIRLEY’S
brother, ALBERT RISTAU, about what they wanted to do with SHIRLEY’S
possessions that she had left in the subject house after she moved out but ALBERT
hung the telephone up on MYLES; I simply instructed MYLES to contact SHIRLEY
directly and see what she wanted done with her personal property. Did she want it
stored, given to her brother or sell it.Itdid not matter;
20 6.) That on or about September 18, 2018, I received correspondence from JULIETTE
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ROBERTSON, (EXHIBIT G), who Ibelieve to be Attorney STEPHEN
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ROBERTSON’S wife, making all sorts of nasty accusations as to the FLOURNOYS
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stealing the real property from SHIRLEY WRIGHT and threatening them with a
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2.
DECLARATION OF TOM GIFFORD
lawsuit. MRS. ROBERTSON never made any arrangement to pick-up SHIRLEY’S
personal property, yet, her husband, sues the FLOURNOYS for conversion;
7.) That Iwill subpoena MRS. ROBERTSON for Trial to explain why she refused to
make arrangements to pick-up her Client’s personal property;
8.) That at no time until the letter from MR. ROBERTSON’S wife was received, was
there ever any discussion between the undersigned and my Clients regarding an
Option Agreement or Exercise of Option Agreement, that simply was not an issue.
The issue was that SHIRLEY had abandoned the real property, (of which she could
lease for $1.00 per year) and she left her personal property behind in the house;
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9.) That after FRIEDA FISHER DUBOIS, JOHN, DAVID, WILLIAM, MYLES and
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JENNIFER FLOURNOY and LL&L were served with the Summons and Complaint
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in this matter, I conferred with them and explained that I would have a possible
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conflict of interest and explained how the conflict could arise. Subsequently, my
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Clients executed a written Waiver of Conflict of Interest;
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10.) That MR. ROBERTSON told me within the last 2 weeks, that the conversion and
17 trespass to chattel were “throw away” causes of action and they could not make
18 arrangements to pick-up SHIRLEY’S personal possessions because of COVID-19;
19 11.) That as early as October of 2019, MR. ROBERTSON kept advising the
20 undersigned that the undersigned had a conflict of interest. The undersigned did not
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feel that he had a conflict of interest and told that to MR. ROBERTSON;
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12.) That Pursuant to the Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.7, I believed that I
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would be able to provide competent and diligent representation to each one of my
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Clients and this representation does not involve the assertion of a claim by one of my
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DECLARATION OF TOM GIFFORD
Clients against another one of my Clients, nor the disclosure of any confidential
discussions;
13.) That my Clients have each consulted with independent Counsel, who they have
retained on their own, and Attorney GARY WOOLVERTON and Attorney
RICHARD P. COTTA, JR., were provided with a copy of the Complaint, the written
Waiver of Conflict that my Clients had previously signed, the Motion to Disqualify
the undersigned and the undersigned had lengthy conversations with both MR.
WOOLVERTON and MR. COTTA to answer any and all questions that they had in
regards to this litigation, the claims and the defenses and what the evidence in the
case was and they questioned the undersigned extensively on how the case was going
to be presented at Trial to determine if there was a conflict;
14.) That after these discussions, the undersigned subsequently received further
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Waivers of Conflict of Interest that my Clients executed after they had met and
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conferred with their separately retained Counsel. I do not know the substance of the
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conversations at those meetings;
15.) That I do not believe that there isa conflict of interest and I do not believe that
18 any Client’s confidentialities are involved; and
19 16.) That the Exhibits attached to the Opposition are all true and correct copies as are
20 the Deposition excerpts.
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I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the
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foregoing is true and correct, and ifsworn as a witness I could testify competently thereto.
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EXECUTED atAlturas, California on June 3, 209