Opinion ID: 2622549
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Kida's case

Text: Kida testified at trial that, in 1989, he and Kobayashi had begun to spend time together regularly. Kobayashi was staying at Kida's residence when she visited O'ahu from Maui, where she was residing and working as a real estate broker and developer. In 1990, Kobayashi moved to O`ahu and lived part of the time with Kida, but never stayed with him on a regular basis. At about that time, Kida discussed with Choy the possibility of his purchase of her property. However, Choy's asking price of $400,000.00 was too high for Kida to afford. Kida mentioned the situation to Kobayashi, who suggested that, if he would pay half the price, then she would pay the other half and build a house on the property. In early 1992, Kida signed an agreement of sale for the property and paid $200,000.00 as his share of the arrangement. The paperwork was prepared by Choy's attorney. Kida testified that he did not read the document or fully understand it. His understanding of the agreement was that his responsibility was limited to the payment of the $200,000.00 and that the rest was Kobayashi's responsibility. He did not know, and was not concerned about, any payments that remained due under the agreement of sale. Choy continued living on the property until the early part of 1993, when she moved to a retirement facility. By the end of 1992, Kobayashi was no longer living with Kida. In December of that year, Kida met his present wife, who moved in with him within the same month. Kida did not see Kobayashi again until March 1994, when she began to occupy an office near his store. Kobayashi occasionally delivered lunches or desserts to Kida. Kida reciprocated by providing parking spaces for her in his parking lot. Kida testified that, at one point, he turned over his driver's and general excise tax licenses to Kobayashi in order for her to withdraw $5,000.00, which he had agreed to lend her, from his time certificate account. Kobayashi remained in possession of the licences for part of the morning. Kida repeatedly denied authorizing Kobayashi to sign his name on any documents or to obtain a mortgage loan in his name. Kida testified that he had not authorized anyone to sign his name either in 1992 or 1994 and had not signed any papers that would have authorized anyone to sign his name. He did not apply for any loan or borrow any money during that time period. He denied signing any of the numerous loan application papers, generated in 1993 and 1994, which were in evidence, such as federal truth in lending disclosure statements, a request for taxpayer identification number, a uniform residential loan application, an estimate of settlement charges, and a Fannie Mae affidavit and agreement, all of which bore his apparent signature and some of which were notarized. Kida insisted that he had not seen any of the loan documents in 1994 and that he had not received any of the legal notices pertaining to the loan. Kida testified that he had not heard of The Mortgage Warehouse in May 1994 and that he had never had any dealings with it. Kobayashi did not ask Kida to assist her in borrowing any money or in paying off the agreement of sale. Kida did not pay any expenses related to the maintenance of the property, such as utilities or taxes, and did not obtain insurance for the property, because his understanding was that Kobayashi was responsible for that. Kida testified that he had never given Kobayashi any of the personal and business records and documents that supported the loan application, which Beneficial Hawaii had introduced into evidence. On cross-examination, Kida admitted that he had previously testified in his deposition that he had given some of the bank statements at issue to Kobayashi. However, he explained on redirect examination that his deposition testimony had been based on the erroneous assumption, when unexpectedly confronted with copies of the documents, that he must have given them to Kobayashi. Kida testified that he maintained his personal and business records, including the documents at issue, boxed in a warehouse that was adjacent to his store. In 1994, he had permitted Kobayashi to use the warehouse to store various items, including boxes, bags, and furniture. Kobayashi had access to the warehouse through the store, and Kida had instructed his employees to allow Kobayashi access when he was not in the store. Kida stated that the boxes in which he kept his records were taped, but that he had discovered, after giving his deposition, that the tape had been loosened, suggesting that it had been removed and later replaced. Kida admitted that, in 1995, Kobayashi had requested copies of his personal income tax forms and divorce papers in connection with what Kida understood to be her attempts to refinance her Novus loan with Countrywide Finance and that he had instructed his accountant and attorney, respectively, to release the documents to her. Kobayashi had allegedly represented to Kida that Countrywide Finance required the documents, inasmuch as Kida was the sole owner of the property after R & M Associates' assignment of its interest to Kida. Kida also admitted that he had signed the assignment agreement between himself and R & M Associates on May 25, 1994. However, he denied signing the note, the mortgage agreement, and an adjustable rate rider. According to Kida, Kobayashi had never told him that he was the borrower with respect to the loan. Regarding Novus Financial's collection calls, Kida admitted to having spoken with collection officers in 1994 and the early part of 1995. However, his recollection of those conversations differed in many respects from the accounts recorded by the collection officers. Kida denied affirmatively representing to the collection officers that Kobayashi was his accountant, bookkeeper, or CPA. He insisted that it was the collection officers who had inquired of him whether Kobayashi had acted in the foregoing capacities when he had earlier directed them to call Kobayashi as to all inquiries regarding the loan. He maintained that he had acquiesced in the suggested characterizations because he was embarrassed to refer to Kobayashi as an ex-girlfriend or ex-lover. Kida further explained that he had not protested when the collection officers had taken the position that the loan was his responsibility because he had believed that Kobayashi was in trouble at the time and he did not want to complicate matters by appearing confrontational. Therefore, he had attempted to refer the collection officers to Kobayashi so that she could resolve the matters directly with them. He also testified to being confused, inasmuch as Kobayashi had told him that the loan was hers, that she did not know why they were calling him, and that those guys on the mainland don't really know what's going on. Kida claimed to have adopted the strategy of deflecting Novus Financial's demands with a yeah and to have limited his involvement to relaying messages between Novus Financial and Kobayashi. Kida recalled that Kobayashi typically asserted that she had made the payments and that the collection officers typically asserted that Novus Financial had not received them. Kida acknowledged that the collection officers had been suggesting that he make the payments himself but denied stating that he would do so. Kida also denied having been advised by the collection officers that it had not been their responsibility to contact Kobayashi. He asserted that they had only complained that Kobayashi was not responding to their calls. Kida denied having received the July 29, 1994 welcome letter from Novus Financial. Kida further testified that he had not been aware that R & M Financial Associates had made several payments, reflected in Novus Financial's records, on the loan between September 1994 and January 1995. Kida did admit, however, to making a series of payments to Novus Financial from his personal bank account between February and July 1995. Kida explained that it had been his understanding that Kobayashi was experiencing financial difficulties during that period of time and that he had drawn the checks in the amounts that she had directed in order to help her. Kida also testified that, during the same period of time, Kobayashi had presented him with a sports car in response to his complaint that she had not been repaying him for the payments that he had made for her. However, the car later turned out to have been leased and was repossessed. Kida claimed to have been unaware that R & M Financial Associates had resumed payments on the loan in September 1995 and that, from November 1995 through April 1996, payments were being made to Novus Financial from a bank account in which he and Kobayashi were joint tenants. Kida professed to be unaware that he had a joint account with Kobayashi until his attorney discovered it in October 1996. Kida did not recall most of the collection calls, reflected in Novus Financial's records, spanning the period from September 1995 through April 1996. However, he acknowledged that, relying on information received from Kobayashi, he had represented to the collection officers in December 1995 that the loan was about to be refinanced. He denied stating that he had signed any papers in connection with the purported refinancing, but testified that he might have mentioned in the telephone conversations that a lot of paperwork had been involved, which had been what Kobayashi had told him. Kida denied, or did not recall, receiving any of the various collection letters from Beneficial Mortgage. Kida testified that he had begun to receive collection phone calls from Beneficial but did not remember when he had received the first one. Kida initially referred the callers to Kobayashi in the same manner as he had with respect to the callers from Novus Financial. However, on August 8, 1996, the caller referred to two loans for which Kida was responsible, one secured by a mortgage on the property at issue in this appeal and another secured by Kida's home. Kida testified to having been shocked. Although Kobayashi had assured him that there was only one loan, he no longer trusted her because, during the period in question, she had moved to a smaller office, had lost employees, and had not returned his calls promptly. Kida remembered Renquinha as being his contact person regarding the loan but denied providing her a fax number by which to obtain copies of his mortgage agreements. He did not recall his alleged telephone conversations with Renquinha to which she had earlier testified. However, he recalled his personal meeting with Yonamine, after which he sought his attorneys' help in investigating the matter. Kida denied contacting Yonamine on October 23, 1996 but testified that Yonamine had telephoned him on that day; in the course of the conversation, he had told Yonamine that, on his attorney's advice, he had refused to accept certified mail. Kida claimed not to have communicated directly with Beneficial Hawaii after October 1996. Kida testified that, in October 1996, he, his attorney, Kobayashi, and her husband had met in her office and that, during the course of the meeting, Kobayashi had admitted to having forged Kida's signature on the loan papers. Kida denied signing, or having authorized Kobayashi to sign, a warranty deed, dated February 1, 1996 and recorded on February 29, 1996, which purported to transfer half of the interest in the property to R & M Associates. In addition to his own testimony, Kida adduced that of Laurie Levi, who was a friend of Kobayashi's family and was employed by Kobayashi between August 1993 and August 1995. Levi testified that Kobayashi's business had been denominated R.M. Financial, Financial M.D. Associates, or R & M Associates. Levi also regarded herself as working for The Mortgage Warehouse. She considered of all these organizations to be mortgage brokers. She also testified that Kobayashi was engaged in originating mortgage loans. Kobayashi had explained to Levi in 1994 that, by originating mortgage loans and processing them through The Mortgage Warehouse, she had been able to get paid, quote, unquote, on the back end and get money from both sides. Levi testified that The Mortgage Warehouse had been the broker for Kida's loan. On cross-examination, Levi stated that Kobayashi had brokered Kida's loan and that Novus Financial had funded the loan. However, she reiterated that The Mortgage Warehouse had brokered the loan, that it had no funds of its own to lend, and that it had received compensation for its brokerage service. She described the arrangement involved in the transaction as table funding.