Opinion ID: 741530
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Wien's conspiracy counterclaim

Text: 25 Under California law, to prove a civil conspiracy, Wien must show substantial evidence of three factors: (1) the formation and operation of the conspiracy, (2) wrongful conduct in furtherance of the conspiracy, and (3) damages arising from the wrongful conduct. Kidron v. Movie Acquisition Corp., 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 752, 757 (Cal.Ct.App.1995). 26 There is no indication that USL was deliberately trying to conspire against Wien by concealing the commission agreement. Though unaware of the exact terms of the commission agreement, Wien knew of the existence of the commission agreement before Wien signed the sale agreement. Moreover, Wien approached USL and asked if they would be willing to consider altering the purchase price of the aircraft if Wien were able to get USL released from the commission agreement. Wien knew at that time that USL was going to pay Turner a $250,000 commission based on the purchase price. Following a meeting wherein an agreement regarding the payment of Turner's commission was reached, Wien's president considered the matter of the commission agreement resolved, and wrote that Wien did not blame US Airlease for the situation [Wien] was put in by Jetlease. 27 There is also no indication that USL would have charged Wien a lower price for the aircraft were it not for USL's commission agreement with Turner. In fact, Turner had presented Wien with a preliminary figure of $6.15 million for the aircraft before Turner signed the commission agreement with Wien. 28 The district court concluded that Wien cannot have been the unwitting victim of a conspiracy because Wien knew about the commission agreement between USL and Turner prior to entering into the Agreement with USL. Because Wien has not presented evidence that USL intentionally entered into a conspiracy for the purpose of injuring Wien that is sufficient to sustain a jury verdict, we affirm the decision of the district court on this issue. See Kidron, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d at 758.