Family Code Section 1000 Governed The Result.
In Marriage of Duncan and Tejpaul, Case No. G056998 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 1, 2020) (unpublished), husband unilaterally purchased a restaurant with third parties while married to wife, with the third parties suing husband, wife, and a related LLC for certain intentional torts. Third parties won $806,644 against husband, but wife and the LLC were exonerated in the third parties’ suit. Later, the family law judge determined that the husband’s intentional torts did not benefit the community such that he could not seek any recompense from wife, as well as had to pay wife/LLC’s legal fees in defending against the third parties’ claims.
The 4/3 DCA, in a 3-0 opinion authored by Justice Aronson, affirmed. Family Code section 1000 provided instructive principles indicating that an innocent spouse should not have to bear the brunt of intentional torts by the other spouse which do not benefit the community. Given this was the law, it was a natural corollary that wife’s/LLC’s defense fees should also be borne by husband.